


Dreaming Little Birds

by 13943



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Nightwing (Comics), Under the Red Hood
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Dark, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Broken Promises, Canonical Character Death, Dom/sub Undertones, Fucked Up, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Manipulation, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-13
Updated: 2017-01-09
Packaged: 2018-06-08 04:42:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 16
Words: 37,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6839476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/13943/pseuds/13943
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>an au in which Dick never became robin but Jason did</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Promise

“I really like seeing you fly.” A black haired teenager commented while he looked up at Robin, the boy wonder, who gracefully lands on top of the dumpster near him after retracting his grappling hook.

“You say that but, without you teaching me those moves. I wouldn’t have been the boy wonder.” Robin quickly retorted with a huge smile on his face. Who would have thought that someone like Batman, the Dark Knight, would need a bright and cheerful young sidekick like Robin? Without anything else to say, silence filled the area as the two stared intently on each other, observing, for how long it had been since they last saw each other? They’ve been friends for years now and yet they hardly see each other now, and with that, the two boys ended their little staring competition with laughter.

Trying to stop his laughter, the other boy asked, “The store just closed, want to sneak in and get warm?” despite of the date being in the middle of summer, the nights here in Gotham are still cold and unforgiving—just like it’s residents.

“No, I can’t.” he replied. ”Batman will figure out that I’m gone if I stay too long. I’m only here because I want to give you something.” Robin quickly took out something from his bag—the other boy didn’t noticed that he even brought one and gently placed a warm jacket on shoulders. “Don’t worry, I used my own money to buy that and no, it’s not something that’s expensive, so you won’t have to get worried about it being stolen.”

Touching the new jacket as it adds warmth to his body, the other boy looked at Robin, “Jason… this is too much don’t you think? I mean, you’ve been giving me a lot things ever since you’ve been adopted, since you’ve become Robin and yet I haven’t given you anything to deserve all of these.”

Seeing the concern in his friend’s eyes, Robin placed both of his hands on his friend’s shoulders. “Dick, what you did for me is something that can’t be measured by gifts. You taught me how to fly, how to enjoy and love living despite of all the crap this city gave us and those things, I will take with me until I die.” His hands tightened to stop Dick from returning the jacket. “And besides, why do you think I’m running around in the streets of Gotham with the name Robin anyway? I can’t repay you enough, at least with my Robin persona, I can honor you while fighting against crime.”

Jason wasn’t sure with what he said or what he did but after saying those words, Dick immediately hugged him and Jason, who was still surprised with the sudden gesture, hugged him back. “I should be going.” He said as he hesitantly removed his hands away from Dick’s and prepared his grappling hook.

“Wait!” Dick called out, earning Jason to look back at him. “Since we rarely get to see each other anymore…. Would it be possible if we meet at your birthday around evening, here?” he asked, his eyes filled with hope and determination. “Even though, I don’t have much to money, I still want to give you something for your birthday.”

“Yeah sure.” He agreed with the same bright smile he usually had and let out his pinky finger. “I promise.” With that, Dick smiles as well and curls his pinky finger with Jason’s.

“That’s a promise then.”

* * *

 [August 15, 11:59]

The midnight air has gotten colder as the seasons start to change once again, Jason, who was in his casual attire, patiently stared at his wristwatch until the time turned 00:00 despite of being cold and shivering. With a low chuckle he said, “Of course he won’t come.”

_After all, who in their right mind would wait for someone who’s been late for 5 years?_

 


	2. Waiting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so in this scene, tim became robin after a year in jason's death. so he's like 17 here and soon to be red robin(?) and i don't know how rich tim's family are so please forgive me if i misinterpreted his social status.

[August 16, 00:01] (5 years ago)

Dick’s body shivered from cold as he tried to bury himself more on the jacket Jason had given him. He’s been waiting for six hours now and still… Jason hasn’t appeared.

_But he promised me_

“Face it, he won’t come for you.” a voice said.

“You don’t know that.” It was almost painful for him to speak, knowing that his friend probably had forgotten about their promise, hot tears were now strolling down on his face. “I will wait for him, no matter how long it takes.”

* * *

 [August 16, 00:01] (Present time)

“Jason?” a voice called out as a figure emerged from the shadows. Jason, who was (still) hoping for a miracle, looked back to the one who called him only to be disappointed that it wasn’t the person he was hoping to see. “Oh, it’s just you Replacement, what do you want?”

The figure slowly approached Jason and as the light of the dim lamppost hit him, the figure appeared to be a teenager around the age 16-17, he wore almost—yet different, outfit of Robin, he had short black hair that was neatly groomed and a concern face that can be seen even when his eyes were covered with his domino mask can be seen. “I, no, we need you. We need you to go back home, Jason” He croaked.

“The hell I am!” he shouted, almost immediately. “Don’t you know how long I’ve been waiting for this day? For the day, I’ve become someone who’s equal to Batman? No, to become someone who is _even_ better than Batman.”

“Murdering criminals only proves that you’re like them and you know that.” Robin retorted with a stern voice.

“Ohhh so now, Replacement’s lecturing me? Tell me, how long did it took Bruce to replace me huh? Was it only a day? A week? A month?—“

“He didn’t replace you! I was the one who approached him. He needed—Batman needed a Robin...” Tim’s tone changed from angry to sympathetic. “He was a mess when you died Jason. Did you see the reports about him almost being labeled as a criminal? He maimed criminals mercilessly after your death. He was too lost after your death! He blamed himself for not rescuing you, he was grieving!” okay, now his tone returned from sympathetic to angry. “Do you really think that I like wearing this costume? This?! I feel like whenever I’m Robin—I’m just a reminder of the person that Batman didn’t save and it sucks I don’t want him to remember those days. But now that you’re here, you can help him become the person he was before.” With a desperate plea, Robin slowly approaches Jason as he offers him a hand.

Looking more pissed than before, he flicked Robin’s hand away. The sentiment doesn’t matter. I don’t care about my death. I forgive him for letting me die, but what I can’t forgive is the fact that he let that scumbag (Joker) live and get away!”

“He didn’t let him get away! When he found him, he placed him in a body cast for six months. He wanted to kill him then and there but he didn’t because if he did…then he wouldn’t be able to look you in the eye anymore. You were his light Jason, so please—”

Jason could feel a lump on his throat but he’s too angry to let anything slide. “Whatever.” He quipped and placed back the hood from his jacket to his head. “That doesn’t mean that I still won’t kill the Joker. And when I’m done with him, you two are next.” He said and prepared his grappling hook to leave

“You were waiting for Dick Grayson, aren’t you?” as his last desperation attempt, Tim burst out the first thing he could think of to make him stay.

With eyes wide open, Jason tackles Tim and grabs him by the collar, “Where did you get that name?” he asked bitterly.

“Calm down! I-I saw you two talking in the past, that’s all!” he confessed and Jason removed his hands away from him, Tim let out a pained groan.

“Talk” he demanded.

“Like I said earlier, I saw you two talking. It wasn’t by mere coincidence. I was following Batman and Robin’s tracks, for a long time now. You two were my hero and I would take photographs of you flying through the night sky whenever I catch you two in action. Though, I would notice that there were times where Robin would make an appearance without Batman. So, I followed you and stumbled on the two of you talking.”

“That still doesn’t explain why you know his name.”

“I was there, you know.” he further elaborated, his face now turned grim. “I was there on the night when his parents died. That’s why when I saw the two of you talking, I couldn’t help but feel familiar with his face, and when I looked through my old photos, then that’s when I realized that it was Dick Grayson, the sole survivor of the Flying Graysons.”

“Did you told the Bats about this?” not minding the whole stalking thing, Jason wanted to know if Tim is planning to blackmail him with the information he got about Dick.

“No.”

“Are you planning to?”

“No. because I know just how much he means to you Jason. I idolized him too you know. I admire the way he flies in the trapeze.” Before he could add more, Jason was gone. With a sigh, Tim took out the keys to his bike and headed back to the Batcave.

* * *

Seeing Bruce focusing on the computer, no more importantly, on Jason’s files. Tim approached him and said, “You should really talk to him.”

“I-I don’t know if I should. I mean, we still have no evidence if the Red Hood really is Jason, we only have your speculations.” He replied, debating whether or not he should change Jason’s status from dead to alive.

“Come on Bruce, you know that it’s him. Even without the support of a DNA, you already dug his grave and talked to Ra’s about it. Or are you just afraid to admit that he kills people now?”

“It’s not easy Tim and you know it.” Bruce pinches the middle of his brows as he removed himself from the computer and removed his cowl from his face. “I take it that he didn’t like your little meet with him?”

“Yeah, he kinda put our names on his ‘next-to-kill’ list right after Joker.”

“I see.” With a few short moments of silence. Bruce fully removed the rest of his costume and headed back to the manor. “I think it’s getting late for you stay here Tim, it’s best for you to go back home now and sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“o-okay then, goodnight and goodbye then.” watching Bruce leave, he placed his Robin costume aside and observed the Robin costume that was on display, “I will never be like you.” He whispered, changing back into his casual wear and headed out using one of the many secret exits in the Batcave.

* * *

 

Upon arriving at the Drake household, Tim walked on the long narrow hallways. Too tired to even notice that there was no sound other than his own footsteps—perhaps his parents were sleeping? Anyway, as soon as he opened the door to his room, he instantly threw his bag on the floor and slumped his head on the warm, comfy bed—not minding the person, who was already asleep in his bed.

“My Talon…” he called in a weary voice.

Cold blue eyes opened as the sleeping figure slowly approached Tim. “Yes, Master Tim?” With a low chuckle, Tim caressed his Talon’s face. He couldn’t help but think how beautiful his talon was, his soft black locks that matched those icy blue eyes, the way those eyes only looked at him as if he was his everything and his perfectly toned body that was covered with scars, Tim knew how and when he got all of them after all some were inflicted by him—personally.

Lifting his Talon’s chin, Tim replied, “It’s nothing. I just wanted your attention.” He leaned in for a kiss and his Talon kissed him back—deeply and thoroughly. After a few good seconds, they both removed their mouths from each other, panting, leaving a thin thread of saliva. “Why don’t we continue this after we sleep?”

He nodded and settled in between Tim’s arms. Tim lets out a contented smile as he saw how his talon act on everything he wanted him to do—to be submissive in everything, his training within the years has shown great results. His Talon wasn’t like the person he was before; he’s not the child acrobat that made everyone smile from his stunts, he’s not the poor orphan boy who lost his parents in a show, he’s not Richard Grayson anymore. He is his Talon, his perfect little assassin (everything). He would do anything and kill anyone just for his sake and Tim loved him for it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> is tim working for the court as a spy? or is he trying to earn batman's trust so that they could bring the court down?  
> PS: it was either lincon march or tim that would own dick, and since i don't know much about lincon march, i decided that i would go with tim and made it darker than i originally expected O_o  
> PSS:i wanted dick to work as a child prostitute and then he met jason then they become friends but once tim entered the scene i kinda omitted that idea because tim wont like it if anyone touches his talon, so yeah.


	3. Soldier Game Part 1

After a tiring night of patrolling, Jason removed his helmet, along with his other things and sat down on the couch. With an easy flick of the remote, he turned on the T.V. and watched the news.

 “The Crime Rate in Gotham has now reached its—“

A smug look appeared on his face, he relaxed his muscles and changed his sitting position into a more comfortable one as he continued on watching the news on several channels about Gotham. As he switched from one channel to another. His smile grew wider and wider.

_Gotham City has now reached its all-time low in criminal activity._

That was all the news was talking about. Jason looked pleased. Sure, the public didn't know a thing about the Red Hood or how he managed to control 60% of the criminal activity within a few weeks upon his comeback. He mentally gave himself a pat on the back, he’s done a pretty good job about it. He accomplished something that Batman, himself, couldn't do throughout the years fighting criminals. He was making Gotham safe— better than anyone ever did.

But that's not enough. He still needed to control at least 20 more percent of the crime. He needed more men on his control until he has Black Mask on his wits end and then…

He'll get his revenge.

* * *

The Robinson Amphitheater was packed with Gotham’s most elite men and women for an annual gala (Jason didn’t tried remembering what type of event it was). So it was obvious that whenever these type of people are gathered in one area, something’s bound to happen. Something _big_.

“This sucks.” Jason muttered as he was scouting through the area. He used to be in these type of events when he was Bruce’s ward; even though there were kids around his age and great food, he hated every minute of it. He couldn’t explain it himself but somehow being in those types of events really made him uncomfortable. Heck, he’s not even in the gala right now but seeing those type of people made him nauseous.

Moving on, Jason was on top of a building that was not too near nor too far in the amphitheater. So far, he indicated that some of the guests had brought their own bodyguards (some were visible while others were hiding in the shadows, like him) not wanting to be seen by them, he chose the perfect hiding spot for his next mission. He still had his eyes on his binoculars, observing the area, he saw a lot of old faces, the commissioner, his daughter Barbara—who was now in a wheelchair (he was informed by Talia that the Joker was responsible for it) and of course, the man of the hour, Bruce fuckin’ Wayne. Seeing his dumb look made Jason’s blood boil, it had taken all of his willpower not to shoot his former mentor straight in the face with his sniper rifle.  But he’s not here for that, no, he’s looking for a particular scumbag that managed to get away from the law.

Being a crime lord has its perks, you got to learn a thing or two about the people who you, work with, against and some people in between. According to Jason’s intel, Black Mask managed to nab a new ally and the said low-life will make an appearance in the gala. From what he got, the guy’s name was Hamilton Hill, the name itself kinda throws you off and it doesn’t need a man who’s obsess with vengeance and wears a bat costume to know that the name’s fake.

“I bet that dirt bag has no guts to leave this stinkin’ place. He should have ran when he got the chance.” A smile crept on his face as he managed to pin point Hamilton. With his sniper rifle ready to use, he waited for that guy to stop moving and then—

“Gotcha!” he exclaimed as he was pulling the trigger but immediately stopped when he heard people screaming. _Shit!_ He cursed, internally.

People were running out the amphitheater, the commissioner called for back-up as he tried to persuade the guests to stay calm and try not to panic as they exit the area.

“What the hell’s going on?!” he was clearly pissed, his target got away. Sure, he could track him again and kill him in some unknown alley but he couldn’t let the opportunity slide. After all, Hamilton Hill’s real identity was Zucco, Antony ‘Fats’ Zucco. A former mob boss and a prime suspect for the murder of the Graysons. _I won’t let that fucker get away. I can’t let Dick’s parents’ death go unrevenged, **like mine.**_

He grappled from one place to another to see how far Zucco had fled. Tracking a running person was easy, Jason had been trained by the Bat and was further trained by some of Talia’s associates. He would have gotten Zucco, if he haven’t heard his former mention  grunting in pain.

A few meters away from the amphitheater and he still heard Bat’s voice. _Great!_ He took out his binoculars to see what’s going on and saw a heavily injured Bruce Wayne fighting an unknown assailant (who, he guess caused the panic) and a bloodied Lincoln March.

“What’s taking the police so long?” he wondered. He could continue his chase of Zucco and leave Bruce or he could help Bruce and let Zucco away. From anyone’s perspective, it would have been an easy choice to choose the former since Bruce could handle the assassin by himself, but knowing that March was also involved and heavily injured, Jason decided to help the Dark Knight.

After all, he can’t let a person such as Lincoln March to die, he was only trying to help make Gotham better.

Going nearer and nearer the area, Jason could clearly see that Bruce was exhausted from the fighting and with one miscalculated step, Bruce was hanging on the balcony. The assassin approached Wayne’s dangling body, preparing to cut his hand off.

“No!” Jason shouted and shot the assassin’s head.

* * *

With Bruce’s obvious confusion, he tried to see who did it but no one was in sight. He looked below and saw the assassin falling after it got shot. Bruce used the remaining ounce of his strength to climb back to the balcony. He was exhausted, the assassin was clearly well trained, no more importantly—it healed pretty fast. He wanted to leave and investigate on this sudden event but he can’t leave Lincoln alone.

Looking at his friend, Bruce sat beside him and checked his pulse. _Good, he’s still alive._ A huge sigh of relieve escaped from his throat as the police entered the scene.

As he was escorted to the ambulance, he couldn’t help but stare at the dark sky, _Jason, I thought that you resented me, so why did you help me?_

* * *

Jason hid himself as soon as he pulled the trigger.

 _There will always be a time to kill scumbags like Zucco but never a time to save a time to save people like March_.

Looking at the fall of the assailant, he went down from rooftop and moved to the direction where it fell, it’s a good thing that the scumbag fell on an abandoned alley rather than a bustling street. He cocked his handgun and slowly moved towards its way. Was it dead? Jason wasn’t sure, as he moved closer and closer, he could see that the assassin’s figure more clearly, it wore nothing but black clothing adorned with several pieces of knives all over the body and a small armor around the chest and shoulders, it had an owl shaped gauntlets and sharp claw-like fingers. Jason couldn’t help but fathom on its mask, it had huge yellow lenses—looking like an owl. He reached out his hand to see who it was under the mask, the supposed to be dead assassin instantly moved it’s head. With the unexpected movement, Jason backed down a few steps and held his gun closer.

“Fuck.” That’s all that he could say, in front of him, the assailant slowly regenerated itself back to its former glory.

 _Shit…_ he’s in trouble now. He pointed his gun at him but then—

* * *

Bruce, with half of his face covered in stitches and a broken rib, looked at the current state of his friend, Lincoln March, through the computer screen. It took him a lot of time to convince the nurses and doctors that he was fine and that Alfred could tend his injuries. Actually, it’s not that painful once the painkillers worked its magic.

“So, he’s in too deep huh?” Tim joined him as he stared at the monitor.

Bruce was lucky that Tim didn’t attend the gala. Though he wondered why his parents didn’t go, normally, the Drakes would attend events like those. So why? Turning off the screen, he sighed and looked at Tim. “Do you know about the Court of Owls?”

“Court of Owls? Aren’t they just a myth?” Robin replied with a confused look.

“Yeah, or so I thought too. But what got me suspicions was the fact that the assailant mentioned something about the court sentencing us to die.”

“Is that so? Why?” Bruce understood the boy’s confusion. The court of owls was an old nursery rhyme and he knows that there’s a high possibility that some new enemies are just using that name. But fighting against the assassin made Bruce feel like the way the assassin fight came from years of training and practice. It might be a stretch but he could gather evidence to prove his theory.

“I don’t know. I—we, were only talking about his mayoral candidacy and some projects that I was proposing.” Bruce could think of a million reason why he should be killed but Lincoln? He knew him for a long time now and as far as he knows, Lincolns one of the most honest men he knew. “And so far, the only clues I have about the court is the nursery rhyme.”

 _Beware the Court of Owls, that watches all the time,_  
Ruling Gotham from a shadowed perch, behind granite and lime.  
They watch you at your hearth, they watch you in your bed.  
Speak not a whispered word about them, or they'll send the Talon for your head.

Flashbacks from his childhood invaded Bruce’s head, remembering the time of his parents’ death. He remembered the time when he thought that the court killed his parents and how convenient it was for them since the Waynes were influential and powerful.

_Speak not a whispered word about them, or they’ll send the Talon for your head._

Trying to repress those painful memories, Bruce stood up and headed out to the batmobile.

“Where are you going?”

“To look for more clues.”

“Can I come?”

“No, this is something that I need to do personally.” He said—sternly. He can’t let Robin go with him, this was personal. First, Jason and now this. Just how much shit can life throw at him before he becomes completely insane?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kinda messed up Bruce's past a bit. i'll try to change it once i've reread the court of owls comics. and i also change the rating of this fic into mature since i think the story will get darker from here (i think)


	4. Soldier Game Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dialogue heavy on Jason's and Calvin's part ^^  
> and i also haven't read any of Calvin's story so i apologize if he's a bit ooc (or any character for that matte

Timothy Jackson Drake isn’t amuse. Nope, not even a little bit. In fact he’s disappointed—angry knowing that the Court would do something as attacking and ‘assassinating’ both Lincoln March and Bruce Wayne without his prior knowledge or consent.

 _Why did they do it?_ He wondered, his eyes lock on his computer screen. He monitors Lincoln’s status through a live feed from the security (which he hacked from GCPD), fearing that Lincoln might not be able to make it through the night. Tim fully knew about Lincoln’s involvement in the Court and perhaps it is the reason why they attacked him but what about Bruce Wayne? As much as he hates interfering with the Court’s decision, they should know by now that Bruce Wayne is not the type of person that they should mess with.

 _Or maybe they’re just that desperate?_ The court hasn’t been the same ever since the untimely ‘demise’ of their grandmaster and rumor has it that there’s a power struggle amongst the members of the Court. Swiveling out of the chair, Tim hears pained groans from the back of his window.

Curious, he opens one of the window to see his _perfect_ Talon surrounded with bloody corpses. Growing up in a household like his, it’s normal to be a target of kidnappers, hitmen and assassins. That’s why seeing dead bodies has been a normal thing for him already. It didn’t take a moment for his talon to realize that Tim was watching. Removing his mask, an apologetic look appears on his face as his head bow down and apologizes, “I’m sorry for bothering you Master Tim. I tried my best to be silent but they were too noisy.”

He really likes it when his Talon feels submissive in everything he does (even when he’s done nothing wrong). A small smile forms in his face, “Don’t worry about it my Talon, I forgive you. After cleaning up the mess, why don’t you go back to bed and we’ll talk about your next mission.”

“Yes, master Tim.”

* * *

Jason’s not sure how he managed to survive but he actually did. _It felt like I was in a zombie apocalypse movie or something._ Panting, he enters in one of the secret entrances in his safe house and collapse on the floor. Out of breathe, he stretches his body and relaxes on the floor.

_Ok, just breathe big guy. Nothing to worry about, you’re safe now._

It’s not like he’s badly injured or anything, just a few scratch from then and there, maybe a broken wrist or so but that’s not the point. It’s just that he’s _tired_ and couldn’t believe what just happened. Taking deep breaths to regulate his breathing, he tries to recollect the memories from what happened earlier. He remembers how he saved Bruce, how the assassin fell and the surprise he felt when the assassin regenerated itself in front of him. No matter how many bullets he placed on it’s head, it just kept on healing and healing. _It felt like a freakin’ nightmare_ Not only that but that person was talented as hell when comes to combat, Jason could easily beat it if there was no healing involved but what got Jason baffle is the fact that when he thought that he’s going to be killed, out of bullets and exhausted, he was trapped but someone came to his rescue—and he’s 100% sure that it wasn’t Batman.

_But who?_

He didn’t get a clear vision of his savior but he managed to get a glimpse. That person, wore the same yet so different (he can’t explain why) attire of the assassin. The only evidence he got was an antique knife before running away. It’s not much but he needs to know what those things are and who they belong to.

* * *

_Is the Court of Owls real or not?_

Bruce remembers the time when his parents died, _were they responsible for their deaths?_ He shook that feeling off, he recalls the time when Lincoln and he were at the gala, before the assassin came, Lincoln had told him about ‘an incoming evil’. He doesn’t understand what it means, he wanted to ask Lincoln but right now, he’s on a drug induced coma.

Not knowing where to start looking, he asks Alfred’s assistance to go through the family archives and see who died mysteriously. After a few minutes of searching there’s no one in his family who falls in that category. Though, he finds it suspicious on how his great-grandfather Alan Wayne died.

_Falling through a man hole, really?_

Doubting his great-grandfather’s death, Bruce looks up through his files and sees that Alan Wayne was afraid of owls. Upon further investigation, he also notices that the Old Wayne Tower had it’s 13th floor sealed off, so that the bad luck won’t leave the room. His great-grandfather was a very superstitious man wasn’t he?

“Say Alfred, if you were an enemy of mine. Which place would be the perfect spot for you to hide?” he asks rhetorically.

“Well, that would either be underneath you or close to you, sir.”

“My thoughts exactly.” Bruce puts on his cowl and leaves the archive. “I think this so called Court of Owls are using the Old Wayne Tower as their hideout, will try to see if my hypothesis is correct. Once I’ve arrived in the tower, I will send you all my findings and examine them.”

“As you wish sir.” And with that, Batman leaves the room.

* * *

Upon arriving on top of the 14th floor, Batman lets out his laser and starts to open a small circle on the floor. When the so called 13th floor opened, he was surprise to see the room filled with old artifacts— owl-related artifacts. There were owl shaped armors, weapons and masks. Not only that but there’s also photographs of people wearing owl masks and a person that wore black clad suit—the very same one that the assassin wore. “These photos were taken around the early 19th century, how couldn’t’ve known that the court exists for this long?” he wonders and looks intently at the most recent photo he could fish out. There’s something odd about the photo, something—

Throwing a batarang at the corner, an assassin emerges from the shadow and throws his own set of knives at him. Batman knows that this assassin is working for the court, he had similar outfit to the one that attacked him earlier, blocking the attack of the assassin easily, Batman uses one of his smoke screen to escape, he can’t use explosives here, the place is too small and he can’t afford to destroy this floor (yet) he still needs more time to investigate this place.

Through the smoke, Batman finds the hole he created, earlier, and grapples to leave when suddenly the assassin lurches at him and drags him down to the ground. With a loud thud, Batman was on the floor being pinned down by the assassin between his legs, hands on his neck, the assassin say, “Bruce Wayne, the court has sentenced you to die!” tightening the grip on his neck as he manages to constrict the flow in Batman’s windpipe.

 _How did he know my identity?_ Confused and not ready to die, Batman, with one swift motion from his arms, throws the talon on the ground. Quick to his feet, the talon swiftly dodges Batman’s attack. “Let’s see if you can try and regenerate from this!” he throws a tranquilizer at his attacker and it landed on it’s shoulder and Batman threw several batarangs at him to make an escape. _That’ll give me time._

As he manages to escape, Batman sees that out of six batarangs, four were block and only two hit the assassin (one on his upper right arm and the other on the left calf). _He’s good._ He noted. Seeing if the assassin was after him, Batman throws a mini bomb at the hole to secure his attacker escaping. This might cause trouble but this is something more important than that. Reaching for his comm, he calls Alfred, “I want you to check every building under Alan Wayne’s trust, especially the 13th floor, see if it’s sealed off or not and give me the names of the building.” He turns off his comm and looks at the whole mess he created, “This is going to be a long night.”

* * *

 

Jason’s determined to know the identity of the one who saved him. He needs answers, if this new group will continue to show up in the near future then, that could ruin his plans. He needs to know more info on what he’s up against. Even just a little will help.

“So, this is where you’re hiding?” he comments with his usual smug tone, his feet already inside of the abandoned building as he continues to barge in through the window.

“Who the hell are you?” surprised, the other guy pulled out a knife and prepares himself to fight Jason.

“Woah, easy there! I’m here for something else.” He says and throws his hands up to show that he’s not hostile.

“Yeah, says the guy who wears a mask and a couple of guns hidden in his clothes. How the hell did you even find me?”

“You may not remember me. But two nights ago, you saved me from that freak assassin and I want to know who and what those things are.” Seems that he didn’t manage to convince the guy, so he removed his red helmet but keeps the domino mask on. “You’re not that hard to find you know? I was trained by the Bat and further trained by the Demon’s daughter, finding people like you is what I do plus you leave evidences wherever you go, so yeah.” Jason pulls out the knife that he got and gives it back to its rightful owner.

With a sigh, the man took the small knife and turned on the lights. “If we’re going to talk, I don’t want any masks between us and no weapons. Just two guys exchanging intel and that’s it.”

The light flickers through the ceiling, Jason could see the guy clearer. He had a muscular built almost the same as his but not quiet, he had chestnut brown hair and a stubble indicating that he’s too busy to even groom himself, he also wears a mask, a goggles, like him but it looks antique. Agreeing, Jason removed his domino mask as the other guy removes his. They had the same intensity in the eyes—vengeful, suffering and most importantly dead.

“What’s your name? I won’t share intel to random strangers.”

“The name’s Jason Todd but I’m better known as the Red Hood.”

“Never heard of the name.”

“Really? Then what about the Batman?”

“I’ve only heard of him but never seen him and as I remember, you say that you were trained by him weren’t you?”

“Yeah but it’s all in the past. You know for a person living in Gotham, you have no clue as to who the bats is.”

“I haven’t….” Jason notices the change in his demeanor. _He’s hiding something._ “Anyway, what info do you want?”

“About the guy who attacked Lincoln March and Bruce Wayne. The one where you saved me from.”

Jason hears the man sighing, even pinching the bridge of his nose looking like he’s hesitating to answer. “Before that. Let me tell you something, my name’s Calvin Rose and I used to be a member to the Court but I’ve ran away from them for almost two years now. The information that I’ll be giving you might be outdated. Hope that’s alright with you.”

“So if you’re running away from them, why did you stay in Gotham?”

“I just came back here. Actually, I only came to check if the court’s still alive or not.” Obvious confusion showed in Jason’s face but before he could say anything, Calvin continued his story, “The court of owls have you heard of it?”

“ummm…. No??? But it sounds familiar, I think I’ve heard it before but not sure where.”

“I see, anyway. The Court of Owls is a secret society that consists of the city’s oldest and wealthiest families controlling Gotham in the shadows by using money and crime. And if those two won’t work, they’ll use their own tools to get rid of the problem.”

“Tools you mean?” Jason points towards Calvin. With a nod, he replies, “Yes, us. We’re called Talons. We’re trained at a very young age to be fit to do their bidding, of course we didn’t know that about it then. But when they see you fit, then, they’ll further your training, push you to the limits and then you’ll become a Talon.”

“So how about the regeneration? Is that a part of your becoming a Talon?”

“Yes and No.” Calvin answers not sure what to say. “No one can live forever Jason. And knowing how obsessive the court is in keeping the tradition alive, they normally kill of their talon so that they would stop aging and be frozen until they are needed. In that frozen state, that’s where they’ll pump them with a chemical that would give them incredible regenerating abilities.”

“Are you—“

“No, I’m not like those. I ran away from the court could put me to rest.“

“So, how could I beat them? Will they attack me or not?”

“Knowing how you managed to change the crime rate in Gotham within a few weeks, I’ll say give it a week or two, then they’ll send one to kill you.”

“Is there no way to beat them? I mean, they’re already dead but you can’t just throw a bullet at their head.”

“True, but they do have a weakness.”

“What’s that?”

“The cold. If you place them in a cold temperature, they will stop moving. And if you don’t have a freeze gun, just try jamming something in their head, something big. That will stop them from regenerating for a few good seconds.” Calvin explains.

After a few more moments of talking, Jason was satisfied with the intel he got. As he prepares to leave, he looks back at Calvin, “I’ll send your request as soon as possible and be sure to leave Gotham before this whole Court fiasco will get worse.”

“Yeah, just finish what I asked of you and I’ll be on my way.” Calvin replies with a smirk. “And oh, one last thing, I don’t know if this is accurate but there are 47 talons in the court. Out of those talons, there are only 2 who are not bound by the courts orders. Me, a renegade and a guy named Jonathan Cobb, no matter what stay away from him, he’s been trained too well by his great-grandfather that even he couldn’t beat him.”

“I’ll try my best but I don’t think that I’ll know him by his name alone.”

“Trust me Jason.” Calvin stares at him with a serious look. “When you go head to head with that guy, you’ll know that it’s him.”

 

 


	5. Soldier Game Part 3

_“Ple-please! Stop!” he pleaded, both of his limbs were on the ground, he had no energy left in him. He was tired, hungry and beaten. He tried his best not to let his sobs escape from his mouth, he knows how much his trainer hated him for crying._

_With a loud thud, he falls on the ground as he tries his best to get back up quickly only to be beaten again. “Didn’t I tell you to keep your mouth shut?” his trainer growled continuing his assault, mainly on his abdomen and back. “You’re a talon. You don’t need your petty mouth nor your pretty face.”_

_Relieve strike through him as the beating stopped, momentarily, only to feel a sharp tingling pain coming from his scalp. His head was violently lifted, he looked at his trainer’s eyes only to see nothing but pure anger residing in it. “If only your master would allow me to sew your mouth shut and carve that face of yours then…”_

“Talon, are you alright?” his eyes widen when he hear his master, who looks so perfect in his glory asks him a question, he must respond, immediately. “Yes, master Tim.”

“There’s no point in lying you know.” his master adds as he places a bandage all over his upper arm. It’s embarrassing, he was sent on a mission, an easy one but he manages to fail it and now, he’s hurt and his master is tending to his wounds. He knows his master either does the court doesn’t like it when he’s hurt. They expect better of him, after all he’s their best talon out there if he can’t be perfect, then Master Tim will replace him.

The Talon lowers his head, he doesn’t want to disappoint his master more than he already did. “I’m sorry” he mutters. Feeling his chin being lifted, he looks at the eyes of his master. They’re clear, deep and gentle. Whatever comes in his way, seeing his master’s eyes sparkle it always makes him comfortable—it makes him feel safe.

With that, he kisses his master’s soft lips, their tongues intertwine with each other as he feels his master becoming passionate, more dominating. Sucking the lower part of his lip, he looks at his master, who now had him pinned down on the bed. Panting and too lost in lust, he hangs his hand around his master’s neck as they continue kissing and then his master picks out something in the drawer.

Oh this is going to be a long night.

* * *

Dropping a box in a disclosed location’s relatively easy. Red Hood looks through the area to see no one’s following him. Picking up his cell phone, he calls, “Hey, it’s your local neighbor the Red Hood telling you that I returned the favor.” Pride wells up on his chest when he say those words. After all he’s a man of his words. “Oh and one last thing Calvin, leave Gotham and don’t come back until I say so.” Not waiting for an answer, he presses the end call and puts back his phone on his pocket, sighing.

It’s a quiet night. There’s still no news about Black Mask’s new move and Red Hood’s done with his patrolling for the day. The only thing that he needs to do now is to go back to his safe house and sleep. But he can’t a quiet night like this reminds him of his childhood. The time when he and Dick would often sneak into a rooftop and talk about random things, Dick would often tell him his days in the circus while Jason would share to Dick what he had learn in school or what he books he read. Sometimes, they would just stare at the stars and talk about how beautiful they are, well that’s what they were going for until Dick would crack a joke and ruin the night. Remembering the past, Jason let’s out a small laugh, “I guess I’m not that fucked up, huh?”

He looks at the stars, nostalgia hits him. He smiles beneath his mask and wonders, _it’s been a while I wonder how Dick’s doing?_

If he has nothing else to do, then Jason could just look for Dick, right?

_No, you can’t!_

_But he’s Dick, he’ll accept you no matter what._

Jason shakes his head, no. He can’t look for him, for all he know that guy manages to leave this stink hole and live a peaceful life somewhere. He can’t risk Dick’s safety for his own wants. Plus, there’s no way Dick would want to see him after breaking his promise. And even when they meet what will he say to him? “ _Hey Dick, I you must have heard the news that I died but then here I am! I’m alive and now I’m gunning criminals, crazy right?”_ Or maybe, Jason’s just finding reasons not to look for Dick because he doesn't have the guts to see him **_yet._**

* * *

 

Bruce parks his car on the pavement a few meters away from the Drake’s.  

He picks up his comm, which had been ringing constantly ever since he left the cave. “Sir, are you sure that this is a wise decision?” Alfred asks.

“I am certain Alfred.” He reassures his butler. “If anything it would be wiser for me to investigate as Bruce Wayne rather than Batman, Jack already has his eyes on us and I don’t want Tim to think that I‘m suspecting his parents for a crime. I’ll just come in and have a little chat with them, that’s all.” Becoming the world’s greatest detective has its own perks and Bruce uses it to his advantage. He could take any information he wants with just a few subtle words and no one would suspect a thing.

“But sir, if you—“Bruce turns off the comm. He looks at himself in the mirror to see if he looks presentable enough. Looking at his watch, he planned his visit to be around the time where Tim’s at school and his parents are back in their house, resting. He walks in through the front porch and rings the doorbell.

The Drake house wasn’t as gigantic as the Wayne manor but it’s still pretty huge considering that the Drakes just gained the millionaire status within the decade. He continues to observe the front area of the house as he waits for anyone to open the door. He whistles and plays with his feet to make it seem less obvious that he’s scanning for anything out of place.

A few minutes in and still no one answered the door. “I guess they’re busy.” He says, twisting the heels of his feet he walks out of the porch. His walking stops when hears a click, looking back he sees someone opening the door.

To his surprise it wasn’t Tim’s parents who opened the door but rather a young (attractive) man. He had a messy black hair, probably a bed head, golden tanned skin and ice blue eyes that focuses on Bruce Wayne’s face as he asks, “What can I do for you?”

“Umm…” losing his words Bruce replies, “I was wondering if where Janet and Jack Drake are? We’re close acquaintances and they’ve told me to drop by once in a while and I’m a good friend of their son too, Tim Drake.”

Narrowing his eyes as if he’s suspecting Bruce, the young man continues to look at him, this time he observes him from top to bottom. There’s silence between the two and Bruce doesn’t know what to say, the younger man opens his mouth, “I’m sorry Mister Wayne but the Drakes are not here in the moment. If you want, I could tell them that you dropped by.”

“That would be great!” he replies with a smile hiding his disappointment. “Thank you mister…” he trails off.

“Just call me John. It’s short for Jonathan. Jonathan Cobb” He says with a smile and offers him a handshake. Bruce couldn’t help feel something odd with his smile, it looked half-baked but then again, he understands that John’s just trying to be polite.

Bruce accepts the handshake and firmly grips John’s hand “The name’s Bruce Wayne. Although you already know that. It’s a pleasure meeting you John.”

Before leaving the place he observes the young man one last time before the doors were shut close. He narrows his eyes as he notices that despite of John wearing a tight t-shirt, he sees a bandage wrapped around his upper right arm. Not only that but he also noted how quiet the house was, normally when someone’s living in a house, they tend to make sound, any kind of sound. Bruce was even caught off guard by John’s presence, he didn’t hear any footsteps when the door opened.

Reaching back at his car, Bruce instantly reaches out for his comm, “Alfred, I want you to investigate about a man named Jonathan Cobb.”

* * *

“Hey Bruce.” Tim greets him with a smile. Bruce still had his face lock in the computer screen, typing. “So I heard from John that you came by the house earlier… why?”

Bruce gulps, of course John would tell Tim about it. Hoping that Tim won’t suspect him, he turns his chair around and looks at him, “I was looking for your parents. You see, I have a new project that I want to propose but it seems that they’re pretty busy already.”

“Yeah. Sorry about that if you want I could look into the project proposal and sign it in my parent’s behalf.”

“No need Tim. I could look for other patrons for the project and besides you’re still a student. I’m sure that you already have a lot of things to do.” Bruce turns back to the computer and continues his typing.

“Is that about the Court of Owls?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you manage to find real evidence about them?”

“Yes but someone attacked me last night. I wasn’t able to finish my investigation because of it.”

“If you want I can help.”

“No you can’t.”

“Why?” Tim’s voice sounded like he’s frustrated. “Bruce, you’ve trained me to become Robin, the boy wonder. How can I be your partner if you constantly push me aside? Please, please let me help you on this one.”

Bruce stares at Tim, who’s literally giving him the best puppy look he’d seen in his life. He knows that what they’re up against is something inhuman. He seen how it fights and how it regenerates. If he brings Tim along, then it’ll be disastrous. He doesn’t want to have another Robin to be buried six feet below the ground. He can’t, ones enough as it is.

“Bruce.” Tim pleads one last time. “I know that you’re afraid of losing me like you’ve lost Jason but trust me, I can handle it.”

Screaming at his very instinct, Bruce leans down at the chair, massaging his temples. “Fine.”

Tim cheers and fist bumps the air as Bruce starts to regret his decision.

“But you’re doing it under my conditions and I don’t want you to wonder around without me. Got it?”

“Yes, boss!”

And the dynamic duo headed out to the batmobile to start their investigation.

* * *

“Wow, this place kicks ass.” Jason comments as he goes through the 13th floor of the Crowne Legacy Tower. “Who knew that old buildings have this in all of their 13th floors?” he continues to wonder and uses a flash light to wander through the area silently. As old as the building is, Jason’s surprise that the 13th floor looked clean despite the fact of it being sealed off from the public. “Damn, even though Calvin’s info are two years late. They’re still pretty accurate, I wonder if this Court of Owls are serious about their gig or just too lazy to move their hide outs.” He mutters, stopping at a desk that had a leather black notebook in it. Curious, he wants to open it only to be stopped by flying knives.

Of course, he easily dodges them and releases both of his guns.

“Red Hood, the Court has sentenced you to die.” A talon emerges from the shadow as it draws out more knives.

“I feel honored. I was wondering what took you guys so long.” He cocks his gun and prepares to fight with the undead.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes john is dick and i don't know how to put this in the story but calvin asked jason for fake documents for him, casey and her daughter so that they could leave the country plus some money and weapons jason added because he's really greatful for the info calvin gave him.


	6. Loveless World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> now with 10% angst :)

Jason knew from a young age that life wasn’t fair. Growing up in the worst side of Gotham, he had to learn how to survive on his own and not to rely on others. He can’t, he can’t trust anyone— _anymore._

But boy was he wrong. Life _did_ get better.

He met a circus orphan boy, who ran away from the orphanage, they chatted and soon enough became close. Jason, himself didn’t know how and why someone like Dick Grayson would stick with him this long but he was glad that someone like Dick entered his life.

He only wanted what was best for the two of them, so Jason stole and gave money to Dick, he needed it more than he did anyway, after all Dick has been into more shit than him. At least he still has his parents and has a home to return to even though he doesn’t want to go back. While Dick… well, Jason fears that maybe one day he won’t show up anymore and just disappear. _Like a ghost._

Stealing a car tire was one thing but stealing the Bats’ was another, he was sure that Batman would place him in a juvenile facility when he caught him but he was wrong. He was adopted by him, given a home that was comforting and safe, he could have everything he wanted and was trained to become a crime fighter. It was all that he could ever dreamed of. He was happy, he could give Dick the things that he can’t and live a comfortable life.

_This is the best day of my life!_

Then life throws another shit at Jason’s messed up face.

He found his mother, his real mother. He was so happy that, he took the first plane to Ethiopia and reunite with his mom. He was more than happy, he can’t stop his tears from failing. He couldn’t wait to tell Dick—which reminds him that he needs to visit Dick during his birthday.

But Joker appeared and ruined everything. That’s where his life became worse-r

He was tortured and eventually killed him.

Life sucks. But what even sucked was the fact that he came back to life by some unknown reason and crawled out to his own grave. He was a mess and the Pit didn’t do any help either. He was re-trained by various people; he bled, he cried, he vomited but nothing stopped him to reach his goal. He wanted revenge, he’s tired of life throwing shit at him. Now, it’s his turn to give life the middle finger. He vowed that he won’t allow anyone to undergo what he’s been through and he means it.

* * *

“Red Hood, the Court has sentenced you to die!” the Talon announces as it emerges from the shadows.

“I’m honored. I was wondering what took you guys so long.” With a smirk, he drops the flashlight and brings out his Glock 20. Removing its safety, he patiently hears the movement of the talon. Jason’s been trained by the very best martial artists in the world, he can fight in the dark by using the sounds his enemies make but facing this talon off feels weird. He couldn’t hear anything.

_Not even a breath._

“Shit!” before he could pull the trigger, he hears knives being thrown towards him. He easily evades them with his quick movements. Turning on the night vision in his mask, he surveys the area to see where the Talon was. _Damn he’s fast_ he comments. Waiting for the perfect timing, he sees an angle as he runs and shots his gun simultaneously. The Talon’s taken aback by the sudden attack but nonetheless he manages to dodge all of them with a few flips.

_That’s odd. Those flips… I’ve seen them before._

He stops for a second and that’s a huge mistake. (Pausing momentarily could mean between life and death.) The Talon tackles him head on and tries to take Jason down with his brute strength. Which was cute because, Jason’s obvious bigger and heavier than him that the sudden attack of Talon made it look unthreatening. But he’s wrong, the talon uses his small frame to quickly shift his body and climb on top of Jason. The talon wraps his hands around Jason’s neck and his legs around his waist. God, he’s chocking him and the amount of force the Talon’s putting on him is unbelievable.

 _Jesus, how can he be this strong?_ Jason’s completely ignoring his training 101. No matter how interesting the enemy might be, the first thing you should do is take them down without any hesitation. Those were the words he lives by that’s what made him efficient as the Red Hood.

Jason’s face is starting to turn blue. He tries to untangle the talon away from him, he drops his guns in the process but the Talon didn’t flinch. He punches him in the face but the talon didn’t move, _duh, it’s already dead genius. He probably doesn’t even feel pain._

As Jason continues to attack for his survival, the talon exerts more force, as if he was trying to snap his neck. Annoyed, Jason runs backwards towards the nearest walk and slams the talon into it. Getting away from his grasp quickly, Jason breathes deeply and sees his guns on the floor. He run and picks them back, reloading them. “As much as I hate wasting bullets, this won’t hurt a bit.” Before he could take the shot, the talon disappeared from his sight (again.)

“You can’t hide from me you know!” he shouts and when he heard a sound, he immediately took the shot. But the talon wasn’t there. Did he escape? He’s not sure. He was surprise when he hears a metal clinking and turns his head around only to be kick midair by the talon along with a throw of knife to his head. He couldn’t shake the feeling of familiarity.

Great, his helmet is starting to crack.

 _Well there’s no use in using this if its crack._ Jason removes it and throws it to the nearest wall and with a push of the button it explodes. The explosion causes the Talon to be off guard and Jason takes the chance to tackle that undead son of a bitch. Bringing him down to the spot that used to be the wall.

* * *

Batman and Robin ends up in the sewers.

“What are we doing here anyway?” Robin asks whilst scanning the area for possible danger, Batman could tell from his voice that Tim’s scared, if not uncertain.

“You know, you can still go back to the cave and help Agent A with the autopsy of Alan Wayne.” He says as he turns in the corner only to stop at a dead end.

“Sure, you’d like that don’t you?” Tim quips as Batman pats the wall for a secret entrance. “How did you manage to find this place anyway?”

“From the evidence I got in the Old Wayne Tower.” He confesses and turns on the scanner in his cowl. “From what I’ve gathered this was the place where my great-grand father, Alan Wayne was found and since I found the hideout of the court in the old Wayne tower. I figure there’s something connected between the two.” he elucidates as he manages to find a hollow spot in the wall. It’s a secret entrance, with just one press, Bruce fell down. All he see is complete darkness and the last thing he hears is Robin calling out to him.

* * *

“Shit! You’re really hard to kill aren’t you?” Jason complains. He thought that by throwing the talon off the building (in which he blew up the whole wall), the talon would fall to his death but boy is he wrong. Somehow, the Talon manages grab into his ankle as Jason shot the grappling gun.

“Jokes on you, I have a spare gun in my back.” Taking out a Desert Eagle .50 at his back, Jason aims at Talons head. He remembers Calvin telling him to shot a talon in the head with something big will give him a time to escape, hopefully this baby’s magazine would do the trick.

Seeing the gun aiming at him, the talon claws his way on Jason and disarms him. Jason screams in agony as he feel his wrist broken when the talon disarmed him. He’s on the disadvantage here, he has one hand on the grappling gun and the other being at the mercy of the talon. If he removes his hold on the grapple, he’ll die and the talon will still survive and they’ll get what they want. A dead Red Hood

“Damn it,” he breathes. With no other way out of this, he closes his eyes as he lets go of the grappling gun, the Talon immediately removes himself from Jason.

Jason laughs, training with the Bats has it perks and one of them is that, you should always bring a spare. He lets out an extra grappling gun and shots it to the next building.  Relief courses through his veins as he sees the talon falling to his death (?).

But to his surprise, the talon manages to grab on to his ankle (again).

“Boy, you’re persis—“before he could finish speaking, they both end up crashing on an abandoned office floor. Jason groans as he gets up and removes any glass shards on him. Looking at the talon, he’s surprise that it didn’t attack him instantly. Then he realized that, he didn’t regenerate. He was still lying there unconscious, if this guy’s doesn’t regenerate doesn’t that mean he’s the one that Calvin warned him about? A chuckle escapes from him. So much for the courts greatest assassin. He takes out his knife, Jason plans to stab him on the head, simple but it takes care of things. Unfortunately for him, the talon instantly takes out three knives which directly hit Jason on the chest and abdominal area not only that but as Jason screamed in pain, the talon kicks him earning Jason to fall down on the floor.

He’s not going to die here. Taking out a grenade from his jacket, he throws in front of the talon as the talon jumps away from the explosion. Jason removes the knives from his body, _damn it hurts_! And that kick was overpowering that he might have a broken rib or so. Struggling to get up, Jason takes out another gun from his breast pocket. This time it’s a .45 ACP. Leaning against the wall, he regains his breathing. He can still fight, if this guy can’t regenerate then he can incapacitate him and escape.

The talon jumps at him, Jason shots him but the talon dodges them all. If long range won’t do, then, he’ll just have to attack him head on. Jason immediately grabs the talon by his feet, slamming him into the ground, he hears the talon grunting. Not letting this opportunity go to waste, Jason grabs on the talons head and accidentally removes his mask.

The talon instantly cuts him in his face with his hidden blade beneath his gauntlets and continues to attack Jason. Each time the Talon swings his blade, Jason dodges them with ease. _He’s getting desperate now, I can tell._ He looks at the Talon’s face. Dark silky hair, blue eyes and chiseled chin. A pang of familiarity hits him. “Hey you look really beautiful, it’s a shame that I’ll have to kill you.” He jokes when he grabs the talon’s arms with one hand and manages to see his face fully.

Then realization hit him, no wonder his face and actions looks familiar!  

* * *

 “Batman! Batman!” Robin shouts as he alternates from banging the wall and placing his ears on it. Nothing, he can’t hear anything from the other side. With a long frown on his face, knowing that there’s no response he drops his arms and lowers his head, “Agent A, I’m afraid that I’ve lost Batman.”

“Oh my, how?”

“I-I don’t know! One second he was there and the other he’s not!”

“Calm down Mas—Robin. Meet me in the batcave and tell me everything you’ve witnessed.”

“Alright. I’ll be on my way.” He ends the call.

Robin didn’t move from the same spot for a few minutes, then a smile forms on his face as he pulls out another comm. “Talon, are you there? My talon are you there?”

* * *

Jason sits on the edge of the wall, his head looking at the ceiling looking lost. He’s tired and he’s bleeding, he just wants this night to end.

Taking a deep breath, he takes out his phone, his hand visibly shaking. “Calvin, I don’t know if you’ll get this or not but I think I beat the one you called Cobb.” He pauses and looks at the unconscious man from afar with a pained look. “The only problem is…” his breath hitches as if he’s trying to stop himself from crying. He closes his eyes, using his other hand, he points the gun at him, his only friend in the world. The only person who ever loved him for himself and didn't asked for anything in return. The very person that taught him how to laugh, smile and fly. Dick Grayson, now known as Talon, an assassin— a murderer. His other hand begins to shake too, he can't do it, he can't shoot Dick, he can't—

_Remember Jason that this is a loveless world. Loving someone can only hinder you from your greatness._

“Ho-how…” his voice starts to crack, now crying, he throws the gun at the corner. “How am I supposed to kill someone I love?”

 

 


	7. Sanctuary- A prologoue

Jason soaks his head in the freezing cold shower. _Shit!_ With a thud, he punches the bathroom wall due to frustration—multiple times. He doesn’t know what to do, more specifically what to do to with Tal—Dick. It was a miracle that Jason manages to bring himself and Dick back to his safe house, considering the fact that he’s badly injured and Dick unconscious. He leaves Dick in the bed to clean himself before tending to his injuries, of course Jason’s no idiot, and he shot Dick with a tranquilizer that will render him unconscious for a few good hours and removed him of any visible weapons.

 _That’s all I can do for now…_ he thinks and turns the shower off. He’s so lost, he doesn’t know what to do next.

_“So this is your 5 th kill in a month, mind telling me why?” Talia looked at him with a face that’s both amused and disappointed. Jason didn’t looked at her in the eye, instead he just spit on the ground and grumbled, “Because they’re just low lives.”_

_With a sigh, Talia shook her head, “Jason, why would you do that to your teachers? I paid them to teach you the art of combat, were they too weak for your level?” immediately, she attacked Jason, aiming for his neck._

_Surprised, Talia walked back when Jason saw through her and planned on defending himself. “I actually learned a lot from them. **A lot.** ” He emphasized the last two words, removing his leather jacket and rolled up his sleeves, he was on an offensive stance. ”Did you know that all of my teachers were criminals? Because I was really surprised when I found out about if.”_

_Talia smirked. “My dear boy, no one can become powerful without getting their hands dirty. I believe that it was for the best to keep their illegal activities as a secret.” She frowned and turned her back at him. “But I guess I was wrong.”_

_“I don’t think that mattered because when I complete my training, I would have still kill them. So you wanna see what I learned from them or just talked about it?” his face was full of anticipation, he hadn’t beaten Talia ever since she took him under her wing. Maybe this time he could beat her._

_“Try me, I doubt that you’ll be able to take me down.” She said with a smile, hands both at her back but her stance was stern and stiff, as if she was fighting him already._

_Jason’s grin widen as he attacked her, incorporating all the techniques he learned from his dead masters. He managed to grab Talia by the shoulder only to be yanked back, punched and pinned down on the ground by her. “Not bad, but you still react from your emotions. Learn how to channel that, then maybe one day, you’ll be able to beat—no kill me.” she then let go of Jason and offered him a hand. Jason took it and stood up, cleaning all the dirt from his clothes._

_“I have a moral code, you know. I didn’t kill them because they were weak or just criminals” his voice now little, probably feeling ashamed from the instant beating he had. Talia looked at him, “We all have my dear but I don’t think it was wise for you to kill all of them—prematurely.”_

_“I don’t care about your code or the Bats.” Jason balled his fist tight. “I only follow my own. If you don’t like then, screw you!” he let his hands up in frustration, walking away from her._

_Jason didn’t know what Talia looked like when he walked away but what she said next surprised him, “Tell me boy, what is your code?”_

Dressing himself with only trousers and popping a few pills of pain killers, Jason observes himself on the mirror. “Great…” he sarcastically sighs, then takes out his first aid kit in the cabinet. He has cuts and some bruises on the face, not to mention a few broken ribs, a broken wrist and cuts on his abdominal, chest and back area.

_One, I don’t kill for fun. Two, I have a criteria on who I will kill and three if you fit the criteria, then I won’t hesitate to kill you._

“Ouch!” he tries his best to lower his voice while administering to his own wounds. Currently, he’s stitching the last cut in his chest, he’s done with all his other wounds, all he needs to do now is to finish stitching this last one and he can wrap it with a clean bandage and sleep (if he can.)

With a clean finish, Jason wraps himself with a bandage and approaches Dick. “It seems that the effect of the tranquilizer will wear off soon.” His eyes trail down on Dick’s face. _He’s not pale, no visible veins… thank god he’s alive._ A small smile forms in his face, _at least he doesn’t look as bad as me_ and takes out a syringe full of tranquilizer. “This won’t hurt a bit.” He whispers and inject Dick with it.

Leaning back in the couch, he groans. _What should I do? What should I do?_ He repeats. He knows that the Court of Owls are all psychopathic criminals with the obsession of keeping tradition through violence and crime and those people associated with them are the same. But this is Dick, Jason knows by experience that Dick’s a nice guy, he can never kill anyone.

_Playing the Judge, Jury and Executioner is never an easy task but pulling the trigger to those who deserve it, is. The criteria I devised is something that I came up with when I was growing up in the streets of Gotham and living the high life with Bruce Wayne. I finalized these criteria when I found out that my first teacher was operating a sex ring operation with minors. The first criteria is, using other people or exploiting them for your own gain, especially when you’re exploiting the poor. Check. Second, doing something illegal to minors. Check. And last, if you killed people far too many times to count. Check. All these criteria checked out with my first teacher, so I killed him. A simple slit to the throat and it was done. But it doesn’t mean that if you only checked out one of the criteria, you’re safe. Even if you fit in one of them… Then say good bye to your life._

Jason wakes up from his sleep, damn… it was the third time already. His head was spinning, he can’t continue on sleeping, knowing that he doesn’t know what to do, anymore. _I should kill him, shouldn’t I? It doesn’t matter what he was in the past, he’s killing people now and he won’t stop until I’ll pulled the trigger. Come on Jay, you can do this, you’ve done this too many time to chicken out now._ Jason’s sweating; his hands, shaking. He has a gun hidden in the couch and one visible in the coffee table, should he do it or not? H _e fits in the criteria! Kill him already!_ His mind’s screaming at him like a drum but his heart is stopping him. He can’t do it, he just can’t… this is Dick Grayson were talking about, it’s the same guy who would usually smile for no reason, the guy who would joke around and heck, even laugh at his own jokes. It’s not his choice to kill people, he’s a victim or circumstance…. Jason lifts his head.

 _Maybe if we talk to him, we can change his mind? N_ ot being good with handling his inner thoughts well, Jason stands up from the couch and walks in the room where Dick’s sleeping. He hasn’t moved an inch, _of course he didn’t! You drugged him remember?_

Sitting at the edge of the bed, he slowly traces down his hand through his friend’s face. _He’s just beautiful as the day I last saw him._ Pain and guilt run through his chest as he remembers how he broke his promise to him and how he disappeared without him knowing. Perhaps this is karma?

“Oh yeah… I forgot to tend to your wounds. What kind of a person will I be if I don’t tend to my guests, right? He jokes and removes himself from the room. He grabs the first aid kit from where he left it, along with a towel and a small basin with water before going back inside.

_So… should I take his clothes or not?_

The good thing about their fight was that Dick’s too fast and agile that there were only a few obvious cuts and bruises seen in his body. But what Jason frowns about was the fact that Dick had too many scars—much more than his. _My god Dick, what had they done to you?_ It took all of his self-restraint not to shake Dick until he wakes up and demands to know who did those things to him. He wants to know, he’ll make them pay. Scrubbing his body with a wet towel, Jason notices that Dick has a wound on his right upper arm, _did he get hurt on a recent fight?_ He wonders because it’s sure as hell it wasn’t him. This wound was bandaged for Pete’s sake! Even at his left calf, there’s a wound, a similar wound, a wound that looked like he got hit by a Batara— before finishing his observation, he observes a weird mark on Dick’s neck and chest.

His body isn’t only filled with scars and wounds; Jason’s no virgin and he can tell that someone has been having sex, if not making out with him and not too long ago. Kiss marks, love marks and bite marks are dominant in his neck, some marks were already fading but there are new ones that are very visible.

Jason’s anger boils non-stop. Not only did they physically and mentally abused/tortured him but they also sexually abused him! And he’s pretty sure that there’s emotional manipulation along with Stockholm syndrome that has got to do with this. He clenches his teeth, he can’t take it anymore.

After cleaning and changing Dick into his clothes, Jason walks out to the bedroom, picks the gun on the coffee table and cocks it.

* * *

 

Tim arrives at the Batcave a few minutes after calling Alfred. He paces himself to the old butler and hugs him, “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.”

Taken aback by the sudden embrace, Alfred pats his shoulder lightly and proceeds to hug him, “It’s alright Master Timothy, I know that you did everything you could to locate Batman.”

“No I didn’t” he retorts and proceeds to the computer. “I know that there’s a secret compartment in the sewers but why didn’t it function while tried to open it?” he thinks, out loud. Typing at the keyboard, he looks at the blueprint of the sewers and establishments that are near. “If I can’t follow Batman’s footsteps, then maybe there are other way where I can find him.” Tim transfers the date he downloaded to his own mini-computer in his suit. Planning to leave again, he notices something as he types on the computer.

Alfred, who’s still busy with the autopsy of Alan Wayne, is startled when Tim asks “What’s this?”

Looking at the screen, then at the boy, Alfred could tell that Tim feels betrayed on what he saw. “Is Batman keeping tabs on my family? Why did he searched for John’s bio? Why is he doing this?”

Alfred only gives him an apologetic look, “I don’t know Master Timothy, Master Bruce may be a little obsessive when it comes to protecting this city but he’s doing it for a reason.”

“So you’re telling me that he’s suspecting my family for being a criminal? Is that why he visited our place recently? Oh god! Why didn’t I thought of that? I feel like an idiot!” he smacks his head in disbelief. “You know what, I trust Bruce’s decision. If that’s how he sees me fine.” Walking away from the computer, Tim picks up his helmet and rides his motorcycle.

“Master Timothy! Where are you going?” Alfred asks out of concern.

“I’ll ask help from Batgirl, Oracle and Spoiler. We’ll compare notes and see how we can find Batman.” His voice now started to sound like he’s hurt. “Don’t worry, I’ll call you once we found him.”

“Master Timothy wait!” but it’s too late, Tim already starts up the engine of his motorcycle.

“You know Alfred, I would have told him everything he needs to know if he would just ask me.” those were Tim’s last words before disappearing in the darkness.

* * *

“I know that you’re awake.” Jason manages to speak, his eyes focused on his supposed to be friend/ supposed to be killer, and he’s sitting a few meters away from him, on a chair with a gun on his hand and a knife hidden at his back. He’s been playing with the safety of it for a while now. “There’s no point in pretending you know, the drug I gave you lost its effect a few minutes ago.” still no response. “I saw how your breathing changed when you regained consciousness.” He adds.

This time, Dick opens his eyes and those eyes are not what Jason had remembered them.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so in this universe, barbara did become batgirl but is now oracle and batgirl is helena (i'll add an explanation on the next few chapters ^^)


	8. Sanctuary: A place to belong

_Empty_

The once gentle and loving eyes—the eyes that gave light to this dark cruel world, now gone.

_They used to be so warm and comforting... when did they become so cold?_

They’ve been replaced with cold unforgiving eyes—eyes that are devoid of emotions. _Its looks like you’re already dead_. His hands quiver as a painful realization starts to sink in. _No, this isn’t him. This can’t be him. This isn’t Dick Grayson, this is someone else. It has to be…_

Someone that looks like him perhaps?

Both of them look at each other, on guard and willing is to take the other down any second. Jason diverts his gaze away from his eyes and focuses on the Talons stances instead, _when did you become like this? Do you remember me? Or are you just pretending._ Questions scatter throughout his mind, he wanted, he ** _needed_** to talk to him but can't... Not like this, words left remain unspoken as they continue to stare at each other without blinking.

_What happened to you?_

“You’re not…” Jason could feel a lump on his throat when he speaks. “This is not the real you.” This is too painful, why did it have to be this way?

The Talon doesn’t respond, he only gives Jason a glare—he’s trying to taunt him. He’s intimidated by Jason’s presence but he’s also confuse, who wouldn't be anyway? He was suppose to kill the Red Hood but failed, not only that but he also woke up in an unknown place being taken care off by his target. Jason could see it on the way the Talon’s trying to sneak a peek at his surrounding, as if he’s finding a way to escape.

“Look, I have no intention of hurting you. I just want to talk.” His brows furrow and places back his gun to the floor, lifting his hands to let the Talon see that he’s unarmed, to look more believable. _No! Kill him already you idiot! What happened to your code?_

The Talon cocks his head, like the owl he’s supposed to be. Jason lets out a sigh and stands up. The Talon flinches. “Look I’m not here to hurt you okay? I know you, we’re friends.” He says as he steps closer to the Talon, slowly.

It’s easy to tell that Talon only sees Jason’s movement as an attack, he quickly tries to escape the room by jumping away from the bed but unfortunately for him (despite of Jason not drugging him with a tranquilizer) Jason replaced them with muscle relaxant just for good measure and safety. Then, Jason grabs him by the shoulders, “Listen to me, this isn’t you and you know that.” His voice almost sounds desperate.

The Talon struggles to remove himself from Jason but fails, the drug has taken its effect wondrously.

Jason (gently) cups his face and looks at him in the eyes. _Still dead._ He frowns. “Listen, you’re not what they say you are. Remember Dick, this isn’t you.” _This is him. There’s no doubt about it, his eyes, his nose, his nose, his—everything, this is real Dick Grayson._ “You’re not Jonathan Cobb” Jason closes his mouth, it may sound like he’s making this up but when he talked, he noticed that the Tal—Dick’s eyes flickered. _He’s responding! It was only for a second but I saw it._ “Your real name is Richard John Grayson, but you preferred to be called Dick. The last survivor of the Flying Graysons. You grew up in the circus, your mother’s name is Mary Lloyd Grayson, and your dad’s name is John Grayson. They were murdered by a mob boss named Tony Zucco, you saw how they fell on the trapeze. Remember Dick!”

As Jason throws all the facts he could remember about him, Dick grunts and grips at Jason’s back as if his life depends on it. Jason, winces in pain but didn’t stop, he knows now that Dick’s starting to recognize—to remember his life before all of this, before he became a mindless puppet to those rich scumbags, even just a little moment, he wants his old friend back, he wants to tell him that he hasn't forgotten about him, even just for a second...

_Maybe this is just the real him?_

_No!_ He denies that accusation and continues to speak. “You were left by the circus in Gotham to be placed in an orphanage and you escaped that place after being beaten by the older children. You ran and didn’t looked back.” Dick’s fists tighten as Jason continues on his story, practically screaming at him to remember.

* * *

 

Crunching his teeth, Dick tries to breathe. It’s suffocating, his chest is aching, it’s like all of his organs are being clenched all together, he’s palms are sweaty and his body is all tense. His vision is getting all blurry, is he dying? What did Red Hood do to his body when he was unconscious?

“Say Dick…” Red Hood’s voice, somehow it become gentler and calmer than a few seconds ago, his grip on Dick loosens and practically places Dick’s head to his chest. He could hear his heart beating— _they sound beautiful_ he thinks. His headache seizes and his visions starts to clear up, he calms down, removes his vice tight grip on Red Hood’s back and listens as he continues to talk.

Closing his eyes, he feels a sudden nostalgia by just being embraced by him.

 _Do I know you?_ He wants to ask him but he didn’t, he just remain still and let the warmth of his enemy envelope him. _Maybe it’s not so bad being held like this…_

“Do you remember the time where we’re so hungry that we ended up stealing a bunch of fruits at the forest on the hill top?” He cracks a laugh when he places his hand on Dick’s head and starts to pet his head—soothing him. “It was past afternoon I think? And we’re picking up everything we think that’s edible and found this huge ass mango tree near a cliff. We ate some of the fruits we caught under it as we watched the sunset. To be honest, I think it’s a pretty stupid memory but somehow I remembered that moment every time I see the sunset, how about you? Do you remember?”

He wants to say that he doesn’t remember, heck he knows that he’s not this ‘Dick’ the Red Hood keeps on referring him as. But why can’t he just say so? Being a Talon has taught him to keep his mouth shut at all times, only to speak when it’s needed, but this, this moment right here, he needs to speak right?

As if his mind is conspiring against him, his head ache comes back, this time the pain felt three times worse than before.

“ARGHHH!!!!!”

_He screams painfully, his arm got broken from training. The snapping of his bones echoed throughout the room but he didn’t cry, he knew better. Being tortured all the time, the pain somehow becomes a normal thing already. It’s an expectation when it comes on becoming the best for the Court, at least that’s what his trainer is telling him._

_‘You will not become a great Talon if you don’t know what pain and lost feels like’ he recalls what his trainer has repeatedly said in the past._

_Getting back on his feet, he could feel his trainer’s gaze at him. He lowers his head, he mustn’t look pathetic in front of him, in front of everyone. He’s a Talon, the best the circus has to offer and a Talon must not show any signs of weakness nor emotions for that matter. Awaiting for his punishment, he was surprised when his trainer only touch him in the shoulder before leaving the room._

_All by himself, it’s been like that since he survived the maze. He was brought to an empty dark room with no indication of windows, door nor lights. He’s all alone driven to be insane by his captors. Left to be beaten and then bled. He’s surprise that he survived this long._

_But for much how longer? Isn’t he trained enough? How long has he been here?_

_He doesn’t remember. Every time he tries to think, his mind throbs painfully, so instead he sits up and look up at the ceiling, was there even a ceiling? He doesn’t know, he lost his sense of sight along with his other senses a long time ago…_

_‘Remember… you need to survive.’_

_Why should I survive? He thought, being here feels like he’s in hell. Couldn’t it be that he’s already dead? That would explain why he can’t feel anything, couldn’t see anything, not remembering anything and yet… why is he hopeful that someone will save him?_

_‘Of course someone will! Don’t you remember? Batman and Robin will come and save you!’_

_Why? Why would they even save someone like me? I’m just a nobody, I don’t even remember my name nor my family and besides I’m sure that there are a lot more people that are way important than me that needs to be saved._

_‘That’s because Robin is…’_

_A friend? Acquaintance? Family? Ally?_

**_‘Jason Todd’_ **

_Jay…Hot tears strolling down his face, how could he forget about him? Jason was… is… everything to who he was before, he knows that for sure and right now…. that piece of memory is everything that he has left. ‘I—I don’t want to lose any more than I already had’ Looking at his wounded body he uses his long unattended nails to carve his skin. Using some of the scars left in his body, he carved a “J” on his left side of the abdomen, then another “T” on his broken arm._

_Muffled cries escape from him when he inflicts more pain on himself. Why am I feeling pain right now? Shouldn’t be immune to it already? He wonders as finishes carving the letter in his arm. “At least then… even if I won’t remember anything about myself, I can remember about him… I’m sure that he’ll save me from all of this…_

_Someday….”_

_Drifting to darkness… a hand snatches him from his dream._

* * *

“Don’t you remember me? I’m your friend.” He whispers, only to be startled by a painful scream and sudden thrashing from Dick, he holds him tighter into his embrace, _I’m not letting you go, not this time_. “It’s all right Dick. I’m here, don’t worry it’s alright. Just breathe okay?” He coos and combs his hands through his friend’s hair, soothing him. Seeing Dick’s fits reminds him of his time with the al Ghuls.

_“Tell me, was it painful?” Talia asked him whilst looking away, he was on laid down on the floor, clearly beaten down and was trying to get up from the floor. They were sparring again and like the usual, Jason got his ass beaten by her._

_“What do you mean?” he looked at her with confusion wiping the blood and dirt off his face._

_She stared at him like he’s an idiot, “When you died but then came back to life.”_

_“Well, I can’t say that it was easy but once you’ve gotten used to the trauma and the night terrors, it’s like walking in a park” he joked, expecting Talia to scold him for taking resurrection so lightly especially when she was the one who’s responsible for pushing him off the Lazarus pit but only to be met with a stone cold glare._

_Silence filled the area as Talia kept her mouth shut. “To be able to withstand all that has happened to you, you must have an enormous amount of will power.” She mused, breaking the (awkward) silence and helped him get back on his feet._

_“I won’t say that I am but…” he trailed off when he remembered the first few weeks of having his consciousness back. It was a living **nightmare** , he constantly remembered—felt the pain of being tortured, of being burned—murdered. Hell, he even remembered the time how he used his bare hands to dig his way out from his grave. But even when all of those things had happened to him, he manages to go back into being sane just because he recalls…_

_’I’m here for you Jay, always’ Dick’s stupid overly cheerful voice and smile. Of all things why was it the first thing he remembered? He couldn’t figure why but it always put him at ease, somehow by remembering those times they spent together, it made all of nightmares go away. But there’s no way he can tell that to Talia. “Whenever I wake up, there’s only one person that comes into my mind…”_

“J…” Jason snaps back to reality when he hears Dick mumbling. “What is it Dick?” he lifts his head, to only see Dick crying, his face all red and flooded with tears. _You were always such an emotional wreck._ He wipes his tears off through his thumb, tucking his hair to the back of his ear as he cups Dick’s face with his hands. Dick repeats, “J…” Pointing at his abdomen.

“Jay?” Jason parrots. _Could he be talking about me? Is he staring to remember me?_ Butterflies flutter in his stomach. He doesn’t want to get his hopes up but he’s really hoping that Dick’s starting to remember him. Looking back at Dick for confirmation, he doesn’t want to touch him without consent—that’s the least he could do, at least. He lifts his shirt and follows Dick’s finger to where it was point at.

Looking at his abdomen, there is nothing unusual other than bruises and scars, though… tilting his head he can see what looks like the letter ‘J’.

“J?...” he trails off and notices that Dick moves his finger and pointed it to his arm. Observing at it again, he sees another letter, this time ‘T’

_Those are my frickin’ initials! Of course he’s referring to me!_

“JT….you mean me?” he asks looking back at him, Dick moves his head slowly into somewhat like a nod. A huge smile forms in his face as Jason wraps back his arms back at Dick. “You remember me.” Great joy dwelling in his chest, he nuzzles in his friend’s neck, holding back the tears.

_I’m glad that you remember me._

* * *

 

On top of the New Wayne Enterprise Tower, Tim observes the area through his binoculars. “Got anything?” a voice along with a figure that’s clothed in full purple appears. Robin stares at her for a moment before returning his attention back to the binoculars. “Nothing.” He huffs.

Lifting the mask, she looks around Tim’s age and she has dark blue eyes that goes along with her neatly tied blonde hair. She’s known as Spoiler, the daughter of the villain Cluemaster, instead of following her dad’s footsteps she wants to do good and becomes a vigilante working under Oracle. Feeling the tense aura around Robin, she asks, “Are you alright?”

“No, I mean yeah, I’m fine. It’s just that I’ve been observing the blueprints of the sewers for half an hour right now but still nothing…” he sighs, letting down the binoculars. “I thought that by surveying the area from atop would help me find some answers.”

“Tim.” She calls, Robin gives her a ‘you-know-there’s-no-calling-of-names-in-the-field look. Only to be countered with an I-know-that-you’re-not-telling-me-everything look.

With a sigh, Robin scratches the back of his head. “Alright!” he lifts his hands up like he’s giving up. “I just found out that Batman doesn’t trust me. I mean I just found out that he tried to investigate my family behind my back! Could you believe that?” he moves his hands up in the air to show his feelings. “It was a good thing that John’s home or else it would have been worse.”

Seeing her friend in distress, Spoiler pats him in the back, “I know what you feel Robin. No one trusting you because of what your family did kinda sucks. But I think even Bruce earns to know what’s really happening to your family. He’s bound to know about it sooner or later, you know. Whether you like it or not”

Tim closes his eyes. “Yeah, I guess you’re right… despite of him being so brooding and gloom all the time. He still deserved to know the truth, I’ll tell him everything once we found him.” he smiles and looks at her. He then remembers why they dated a while back. Spoiler or also known as Stephanie Brown is not your average girl, she’s energetic, happy and charismatic but she’s serious when she wants to and knows what to do when she want something. She’s a person who’s not afraid of facing the problem head on and doesn’t care what people talk about her. “Do you remember the time before you joined Oracle’s team?”

“Ah yes, you telling me that there’s another bat team operating in Gotham, who can forget about that? I think you even asked me to spy on them once.”

“Yeah…” a chuckle escapes from his mouth. It was during their early days where he just became the new Boy Wonder and ever since Jason’s death, Bruce had been over protective of him that he won’t even allow Tim to go on a recon mission with him without moving pass the 10 mile radius away from him. He had enough of it that he accidentally stumbled on a computer program in the Batcave when he was left behind to do all the analyzing while Bruce is out there fighting the bad guys. That’s where he found out about Oracle, the former Batgirl and a new Batgirl. Apparently, they label their selves as an ally of the dark knight but he didn’t want their help and that’s where he found out about the commissioner’s daughter being Oracle and why Bruce is placing so much distance between him and the people around him.

_He lost so much already_

“It’s nice to have a second home you know? A place to belong when things in the cave got too much. Though I wouldn’t mind joining your team, I always wanted to become a male Batgirl.” He smiles and fires his grappling gun to the next building.

“Yeah but I think that idea’s pretty dumb. I mean you’re already Robin, and you still want to be Batgirl? No way sister, there’s a reason why the name’s called Bat _girl_ not Bat _boy_ and besides I think I have a good chance on becoming the next Batgirl if ever the current one wants to quit.” With a quick quip, Stephanie follows Tim’s direction. The two exchange looks after that and laugh. “By the way where’s Batgirl?”

“She’s guarding Lincoln March right now, after the data you sent us about the assassin, we kinda cooperated with the police to take turns in guarding him. At least then, we can secure that no one can get in and finish the job.” She explains and follows Tim, who lands at a nearby abandoned subway. “Oracle had just told me that March woke up a few minutes ago but he seems to be in shock from what happened. It might take a while for anyone to know what’s going on.” Walking down, the two prepared their flashlights and starts to canvas the area.

“Yeah, I also want to get to the bottom of this case. I haven’t seen the court doing something so rash as to kill the mayoral candidate. I mean, I know that Lincoln March is also a member of the court, so why kill him?” he asks and after walking through twists and turns. The two ended up on the same area where Robin had lost Batman a few hours ago. “Though I think that the Court of Owls will be gone.”

“Huh?! Why?” she exclaims.

“I’m a member of the Owls remember? And even though I don’t know why they’re acting like this. I can still tell when something big is happening and from the looks of it, it appears that the power struggle between the two parties is coming to a conclusion.”

“You’re saying that….”

“Yeah, there might be a winner already and I think they’re planning on hunting down the ones that were not on their side or those who simply refused to participate in this feud.”

* * *

 

Barbara Gordon, or also known as the first Batgirl, a self-proclaimed sidekick to the dark knight despite of his opposition and having a sidekick already. She fought and trained hard, seeing the result, Batman, recognized her ability and took her under his wing. Tragedy strikes when Joker came to their house and shooting her in the abdomen area which caused her to be paralyzed from the waist down. Not wanting to stop the vigilante life, she becomes Oracle, the information broker of her own section in the family along with Helena Bertinelli as the new Batgirl and Stephanie Brown as Spoiler. They formed an independent _yet_ co-dependent branch of the Bat family.

She is on her computers, watching the live feed of Lincoln March’s status through Batgirl’s hidden camera.

“ _the doctors are now checking his vitals, so far so good but I doubt that he’ll be able to talk soon._ ” Batgirl reports.

“That’s great, I just told Spoiler about his awakening. Be sure to give me a status update every hour.” She replies.

“ _Got it O.”_ Batgirl responds before switching off her comm.

Oracle, minimizes the live feed from her screen and scanned through different archives and files about the Court of Owls. She then stopped when she looks at Tim’s profile.

_Timothy Jackson Drake, first approached me shortly after the death of Jason Todd stating that he knows our identities. Smart kid—too obsessive with the whole justice and investigating thing but who can blame him? His parents are members of the Court and forces him to follow their footsteps in the future. But he doesn’t want that and gave us vital information about the court, he even earned Bruce trust and became the new Robin. His current guardian under the alias of Jonathan Cobb is also on the list of the Court’s Talon. Even we have no idea about it other than what Tim has told us. But there’s something off about him when he’s telling his story to us… it felt too real, too good to be true…._

* * *

 

“What are we doing here anyway?’ Spoiler asks as she skims through the area with her flashlight.

“I told you we’re investigating.” Tim places his flashlight down and takes out something from his utility belt.

“But I thought that you said this is a dead end?” they stopped at the area where Tim last saw Bruce.

“Yeah, a dead end but there’s no way that a room could just disappear like that.” Turning the laser on, he starts to point it on the wall. “We can cut through the wall and see what’s behind it.”

“Could you have done that earlier?”

“I tried but the laser I brought earlier wasn’t strong enough plus, if anything happens to me at least I have you to take care of me.” he jokes which earned him a light punch on the shoulder.

“You tease!” she comments.

After a few minutes of waiting, they managed to create a small opening, fit for the two of them. “Are you ready?” he asks not wanting Stephanie to be dragged because he says so. She gives him a quick nod and the two just stared at the dark tunnel that was in front of them before entering into the dark abyss.

When he opens his eyes, he feels a heavy object on top his head. The Red Hood has fallen asleep.

_I should have ran, why didn’t I? When did I even fell asleep?_

Dick knows better that he should have swat away the man who claimed to be his friend. But somehow this feeling he had, the feeling of being held into a tight embrace—being warm and safe. He never felt like this with anyone other than his master but even with his master, he hasn’t felt this comfortable.

He looks up at Red Hood’s face, _he looks_ handsome, he thinks and trails his hands to his face; there were visible scars aside from his current injuries. _He must have gone through the same treatment as I_ am. After a while, he removes his hands and just stared at him for a few seconds. _Why is it so hard to push you away?_ He couldn’t help but fathom, he returns to his initial position and snuggles closer to him. For once in his life he feels like he belonged here, he feels warm and protected—he feels like he’s back home.


	9. Let's play pretend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter known as alternating POV and dialogue overkill ;)

“This is day three of our search and so far, we haven’t—“Robin continues to search through the maze that he and Spoiler had found days ago and so far, their search had always ended as a dead end, until—“Robin watch out!” Spoiler shouts earning Robin to drop his comm when she pulls him towards her direction. Something big has collapsed as the two teenager are in awe on what they’re seeing in front of them.

“ _Robin, what’s happening? Are you alright? Spoiler? Are you there?”_  Oracle’s voice dominated the area as the two teenage superheroes remain silent with what had just happened. “ _Hello? Is anyone there?”_

“Umm…” Robin finally picks up his comm but doesn’t know what to say. “I think we just found Batman.”

“ _What?!”_ As Oracle exclaims, both Tim and Steph slowly approach Batman, he looks beaten, worse he looks starved and deprived of any sustenance. They feared that he might be dead. Fear, anxiety and helplessness filled their mind as they slowly but hesitantly try to approach the injured man, he coughs earning the two to breathe a sigh of relief.

“And a request for back up would be nice?” he quips and check’s on Batman’s pulse.

* * *

Helena Bertinelli is the current Batgirl, it’s been a few years since she took the mantel and yet being the hero she always admired still feels so surreal. After all who would have thought that a person who grew up not knowing her father being a mob boss could be a hero? She always thought that her parents were brutally murdered for no reason as she witness their murder with her own two eyes. Since that day she vowed to take vengeance to those who killed her family. So, she trained and trained until her knuckles bled and her body ached. She wanted—no, needed to be stronger, she has to be, for the sake of her parents. She wanted to save people from the same fate as her, to not be miserable and to only live for vengeance. That’s why when she found out the truth about her family, it broke her. All those training, all those time swearing for revenge and justice, were they all lies? No, they’re not. Just because her family came from the mafia doesn’t mean they don’t deserve any justice that’s why it didn’t stopped her from doing good, she liked saving people and if being a hero means saving people from the horrible reality, so be it.

Then, one night when she was strolling through Gotham, she happened to pass through Crime Alley and that’s when she saw them, Batman and Robin, in action, and it seemed that the Bat has brought a new sidekick along, Batgirl, she had a dazzling hair and bright green eyes.  _She looks beautiful_ , she thought and admired the way the trio fight from a far. Since that encounter, Helena had been admiring Batgirl, even to the point of following her fighting style, studying her movements from afar, she begun to train in gymnastics and ballet and travelled throughout the world to be trained in different martial arts by various masters. By the end of her training, she incorporated everything she learnt from her trainers and masters and made her own fighting style along with a crossbow and a bo staff.

Judgement day has come when she returned to Gotham, ready for her debut as a vigilante. She didn’t have a proper costume with her during that time, just a simple violet jacket that have a white cross accented through her chest and a violet domino mask but still, she manages to stop muggers and thieves in the city, she was happy. She’s making a difference in this rotten city and it made her feel closer to the Bats than ever before. Helena knew that she’s the luckiest girl in the world when she met her idol, Batgirl or also known as Barbara Gordon. It surprised her to see that the commissioner’s daughter was a vigilante knowing that her father is very protective of her, though, what surprised her even more was the fact that Batgirl manages to find her and even revealed her secret identity to her. She asked her why, why did she reveal her identity to someone who she just met? Barbara simply smiled at her saying, “Call it a hunch but I trust you and I know that you’ve been posing as a vigilante these past few weeks.” “If you’re telling me to stop then I’m sorry but I don’t want to.” She replied only to be met by a pat on the shoulder as Barbara looked at her.  _Her emerald eyes looked brighter and prettier compared to the last time she saw her_ , Helena thought. “I know that’s why I’m here. I’m going to train you Helena.”

Ever since that encounter the two had trained together, became friends, bonded and become closer—more intimate than before. Helena feels contented with her life and to top that off, Barbara had promised her that she’d meet the Batman on their next mission. She was excited, finally! She was going to meet the dark knight, but that’s when tragedy happened. Barbara was attacked by joker, left to be a cripple forever and was forced to hang the cape and cowl for good. She couldn’t allow that, Batgirl was Barbara’s legacy, she didn’t want her to be over just because Barbara’s out of commission, that’s when she volunteered to be the new Batgirl. Barbara didn’t question her action, only looked at her and smiled, saying, “I know.”

Those happy memories together seemed like a dream, she still couldn’t believe it. Being Batgirl was her life and now…. Helena thinks that her live is now over. She’s sitting on the floor with her knees tucked closed to her chest, her arms clenched around her and beside her is the dead body of Lincoln March. She tried her best, she really did, but she just couldn’t save him. It’s her fault why he died.  _So stupid!_ She recalls the time when she entered the room earlier, there was no one in sight, the police guarding Lincoln were nowhere to be seen and there’s a knife stabbed into his chest, killing him instantly. She didn’t know where it came from but because of her frustration, she beat the cops who were supposed to stay on guard. Her knuckles are now hurting,  _great_.

“Batgirl, status update.” Out of self-loathing, she didn’t notice Oracle calling her. Instead, she just duck her head and cry. She doesn’t know what to say to her, Helena hates to bring bad news to the team but she has too. She needs to tell them—to tell Barbara, that Lincoln March is dead or the fact that she doesn’t want to be Batgirl anymore.

* * *

**_“But you should know that your body will not be returned to the surface!_ **

**_Because the court has decided to keep your bones down here, to be displayed…_ **

**_Forever trapped in this labyrinth, do you any last words?”_ **

“NO!!!!” Bruce screams as he tries to get up, the restraints that are tied to him are no match when it comes to his strength.

“Alfred! I need some sedatives, stat!” Tim shouts, trying to use all of his strength to stop Bruce from moving. Alfred hurriedly run to his side with a syringe full of sedative, injecting it to Bruce’s body. When the syringe was empty, Bruce when back to his unconscious state.

“That was close…” the boy comments and looks at Bruce’s vitals through the monitor. “We can’t have him act like that every time he wakes. There’s a high chance that his stitches might reopen.”

“Very well sir, should I go and fetch a strait jacket?”

“Yes please.”

* * *

 [A week later]

Two hooded figures meet up in an alley somewhere.

“Hey have you heard?” the one says removing his hood.

“Heard what?” the other asks.

“The Hood’s out of town, people have been talking that he sudden disappeared like the wind.” The first guy replies with his hand moving through the air to show exaggeration. “You know what that means right?”

“No way!” he shouts in disbelief. “A guy like him can’t disappear that fast! He’s just as insane as our boss.”

“Maybe. But people have been talking, no saw him in action for a week now. The police are preparing to keep the crime rate low but we all know that that won’t happened anytime soon.” The two then laugh as if it was a joke only to be surprise when a knife is thrown in their midst.

“Well you heard wrong.”  A voice says.

The two look at the person who threw the knife, terror and fear came into their face as they see the bright red helmet reflecting through the street light. The Red Hood is alive.

“The Red Hood is back in town and I don’t intend to leave anytime soon.” He growls. “Go and tell that to your boss.” With that the two thugs run while screaming in terror.

* * *

  _“Is there something wrong Tim?”_

_“…”_

_“Come on, big guy. You know that you can tell me anything.”_

_“Everything’s alright, I’m fine Steph. It’s just that….”_

_“It’ll be alright Tim. Don’t worry, we’ll find John soon.”_

* * *

_“You know, I don’t mind playing as your stand-in but I don’t think that I can hold this charade much longer. People will later notice that I’m not you and they’ll notice that you’ve been out of commission for all this time.”_

_“Don’t you think I know that Calvin? Shit! Just give me more time okay? I’ll take care of it…everything will go back to normal, fuck! This… I’m not yet done with it okay? I’m just… I just need to think things through and fix my priorities, that’s all.”_

_“If you say so Jason. Just be sure to call me if you want your costume back, okay?”_

_“Yeah, thanks.”_

* * *

Being out of commission for a week has been driving Bruce crazy. He does nothing but to lie in bed and attend conference calls for Wayne Enterprise through video chats, he’s not allowed to do anything nor to even move out from his bed, it’s killing him! He’s Batman and Gotham needs him not to be stuck here and play patient. He’s almost fully recovered that’s why he doesn’t understand why Alfred and Tim won’t even allow him to go back to the cave. He’s just about to storm out his room when he sees Tim, Barbara, Stephanie, Helena and Alfred coming inside his room.

“What are you all doing here?” he lifts a brow, the way they look at him immediately screams something important. “Are you going to tell me something or is it something I did?”

“Kind of both actually but the real reason why I brought you all here is about something I did.” Tim confesses, his eyes looks scared but determined. “I know that I’ve told Oracle’s group about it already but it’s only a portion of it, of what I really am.” When Tim finishes talking, everyone, even Bruce stares at him with a quizzical look. “Ok, this might be a bit confusing but I’ll introduce myself again, my name’s Timothy Jackson Drake and I am an Owl, or rather that’s what my parents want me to be.”

“An owl? Are you saying that you’ve been a member of the court this whole time?!” Bruce raises his tone which made Barbara and the others to be on alert, it’s visible that Bruce’s fists clenched tightly looking like he’s going to punch Tim anytime soon. Stephanie moves closer to Tim as she say, “Don’t hurt him Bruce! He’s got more to say.”

“Fine, talk.” He unfolds his fists and sits at the edge of his bed. “And don’t leave any detail behind.”

Tim gulps when he hears Bruce growling.  _Crap…_  that was his initial thought. He clears his throat whilst straightening his position, “yes, it’s true that that I’m a member of the court but you’ve got to trust me when I say that I left them to become your partner. I mean, technically my parents are the ones who joined the court. I’m just their son, who’s expected to be an owl when I grow up but since my parents are already dead… then… I was forced to be a member as a representative for the Drake household.”

“Wait! You haven’t told us your parents are dead!” Stephanie exclaims as Barbara agrees with her through nodding. There’s recent no police record about any murder around Tim’s area and even in her archives as Oracle, there was no indication of the Drakes being murdered, they’re only listed as people who often goes on business trips.  _Oh… that explains a lot._

“I’ve been holding that truth so that you guys won’t be worried about me. Even the police doesn’t know about it, I mean if they’ll know, don’t you think that the court won’t notice? I don’t think so. The court’s obsessed with the whole secret thing and will use all means possible for any records other than their own to be wiped out. ”

Bruce tries his best not to sound like angry when he opens his mouth, “So you’re saying that you’re parents’ death is caused by the court?” Tim simply nods, this adds more to Bruce’s anger, and how can the court kill a member of their own, no, more importantly how could they easily kill someone like they’re nothing? Finding a way to calm himself, Bruce asks another question, “How?”

“That’s because, I let their latest Talon escape.”

“Talon?”

“You know, the ones that attacked you in the party and in the labyrinth. They’re the court’s tools, ready to be dispatched whenever they feel like it and I just let their most talented one escape.”

“Why?”

“Why?” Tim looks at him like he was joking or something. “You’ve experienced it first-hand Bruce, you know exactly why.”

That’s right, it’s been a week since that incident and yet the things that happened in the labyrinth is still fresh in his memory; all those torture, humiliation and trauma. It was remarkable that he managed to survive with a few broken bones and malnutrition. If it hadn’t been his training as Batman, he would have died, but what happened to those people who aren’t like him?

“The talons were trained for their liking, they were conditioned to be docile—to be their own puppet for their own sake. I saw it first hand, how they tortured and starved the people beyond salvation and I just… couldn’t allow them to continue. I-I had to help him escape, and I succeeded. They found out about it, they were furious, out of rage they killed my parents on the spot for treason and I was their next target. Lucky for me, John protected me from their attacks. Even now, he’s been saving me from different people who were sent by the court and now that he’s…” not finishing his sentence he finally breaks down and cries. Stephanie hugs him.

“It’s alright Tim. Everything will be alright.” She coos while gently petting his hair. Being able to act as if nothing happened for their sake must have been hard for him.  _You’re so strong to endure all of this Tim…_

Bruce wants to comfort Tim, he really did but he knows that Stephanie can do a better job of it than he’ll ever be, so instead; he walks out from the room, leaving the others for a room to breathe.

 

Little did he know that Barbara followed him to the cave. 

"Why are you here?" he asks, already in his batman gear and typing endlessly in the computer.

"I think it would be wise if you let me do the typing." she replies while gently moving Bruce to the side so that she could transfer her data from her archive to the batcomputer's system. with one final click, she shows him all the evidence she gathered about Tim's family. "These are the things that I manage to dig up in the past decade, I don't know if they're still reliable but from what Tim has told me, everything about what he said happens to be true. Well, except for his parents' murder, I still don't have any evidence about that, though it really surprise me when he told us earlier."

"But you trust his word?"

"Yes and I don't think he's the only one who's involve with the court. I think Jason is too."

* * *

Looking at the city in nighttime, Red Hood sees the bustling streets crowded with traffic from every direction and people walking from everywhere trying to go back home. The cold wind feels nice in his skin, it gives him a false sense of adrenaline as he looks through his binoculars for his next plan. When suddenly a dark figure appeared in front of him.

“B.” he says out loud.

“Jason.” which actually sounded more like a growl than an actual greeting.

“Sorry but I don't have time for your bullshit right now, too busy” he says as he grapples his way away from Batman.

“Ja-Red Hood wait!” Batman calls him out but Red Hood is too far away to listen. Removing a grappling gun from his utility belt, he follows the direction where the Red Hood is heading. Bruce notices how agile and good Jason is with the ropes, it looks like he's gliding-no, flying in the air. He barely catches up to him when he sees Red Hood making a curve in a dark alley. That's when he lost him, then and there.

* * *

 _Shit!_ He screwed up, he knows that he's only posing as Red Hood until Jason comes in terms with his current predicament and he would love to give him all the time in the world. If only Batman hadn't showed up. He's currently hiding in an abandoned room near the alley where he ditched the Batman, he doesn't know what to do next, should he take the risk and escape, but what if Batman will see him and chase him again? Or should he stay hidden until he feels it's safe? Maybe Batman will catch him if he'll stay too long. 

Calvin internal swears at Jason and Batman for placing him in a tough situation, he knows that he can fight Batman head on but he doesn't think that Jason would like it, he can't risk his cover to be blown, what if the court will know that he's back? As he starts to panic, he picks up his communicator and contacts Jason.

"Hey, I don't want to sound like a broken record but I don't think I can continue on this charade much longer..... Crap!" he flinches when he hears footsteps coming his way. "Anyways, the Bats is here and I think he wants to talk to you but I don't think he'll like it when he sees someone else behind the Hood. I mean I can take him down if you want, I won't kill him, I'll just hurt him a little so that my cover won't be blown what do you say?" the footsteps are getting closer and closer, every second Jason doesn't reply to him freaks him out. Maybe he should have just run when he had the chance.

"Yeah, you do that." finally, after a few seconds of what felt like hell, Jason picks up his comm.

"Are you sure?"

"yeah, whatever. I'm kinda busy here as— ARGH!" 

"Are you alright?"

He could hear pain grunts from the background,  _is Jason fighting someone else?_  with a ragged breathe Jason responds, "Just peachy, thanks for aski—" he's not even done talking when his breathing hitches and starts coughing. "I just gonna turn this off now. As you can see, you're not the only one who's been visited by a Bat today and I don't think this girl is the Batgirl that I used to know."

 

 


	10. Play Time's Over

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> believe me, i haven't forgotten about this story :D 
> 
> it's just that when i almost finished writing this chapter, i accidentally saved a different draft in this one and i have to start all over again ;D so i apologized for the delay and i hope that you guys will like this update :)

_Countless of people, who wore the league of assassin garbs, were lying on the floor. Jason simply hummed the Man in A Flying Trapeze, his head turned back when he heard someone approaching him, “I take it that your trip to the All-Caste have paid you well, hmm?” Talia looked pleased with his work. Beating twenty trained men within a few minutes without any serious damage inflicted on him was indeed impressive, Jason couldn’t help but grin at his new found strength._

_“Yeah, but I’m not the only one who got trained by them.” Jason pointed to the far-east side of the area, a pile of unconscious assassins were thrown everywhere. There were around 40-50 men lying on the ground, all seemed beaten but not dead and on the middle of the scene was a girl that looked around his age (even younger, he can’t really tell), who wore completely black-armored body suit that covers half of her face. “She’s beaten twice the guys I beat in lesser time. Her movements are amazing, she’s like a water flowing down the river. It seems that fighting is her first language.”_

_“Ah yes, her.” Talia let out an amused smirk. “Don’t worry about her Jason. She merely does what she’s been born to do.”_

_“So, she’s liked your kid huh?” Jason joked, he knew that touching that certain subject hit a sore spot not only for Talia but for him as well._

_“My son’s nothing like her.” She said calmly but her posture screamed annoyance. “Damian is created from the best genes man could offer and raised by the most competent people in the world. Damian, my dear Jason, is born to conquer the world—to be the emperor in the new world, while her, she’s created from the best assassins my father knows, to be a knight for my son, a loyal assassin that could kill without hesitation and slaughter those who are not worthy to live in the new world.”_

_“That’s a lot coming from a mother who never lets his son see her.” Jason lightly joked._

_“Damian doesn’t need to see me to know that I love him. He already knows that and I know that he’s still busy with his training, he doesn’t need a distraction, and he needs discipline.”_

_“The brat’s alright but I gotta tell you, he has a smart mouth and I swear that if you let me spar with him again, I just might throw that kid of yours in a cliff or something.”_

_Talia let out a chuckle, “I’d like to see you try Jason. I think you have it the other way around.”_

_“Yeah, yeah. There ain’t no grave that can hold me down.” Jason retorted, his eyes still fixated on the girl. “So who’s her parents? Did I meet them or are they new friends of your father?”_

_“Oh, you know them. After all they’re pretty famous…_

_Does Lady Shiva and David Cain ring any bell?”_

“Yeah you do that.” Of all the things that could have happened, Jason is always prepared. That’s why even when he’s on day-off as a vigilante, he still places his communicator somewhere near, just in case something bad happened—like right now. And it’s a good thing that he did because Calvin really sounds like he’s in a pickle with Bruce and him… well… let’s just say that being visited by an unfamiliar bat really  gets on his nerves.

There she is, on the sill of his window, she doesn’t look like Helena nor Babs. No, she’s smaller but feels edgier than them. It’s really hard to tell who it is when all of her face is covered. A pure black-clad armor with a bat symbol on her chest, highlighted by the color yellow and a small utility belt. Her cape looks longer but lighter than her predecessors.

Jason doesn’t need to know who she is, she trespassed into his property, so now she has to pay the price. Taking out a hidden gun from his back, Jason starts shooting her. She moves pretty fast, after the first shot Jason made, she already moves from one corner to another. Trying to follow her movement with his eyes, Jason is caught off guard when hears Calvin speaking through the comm, “ _are you sure?”_

 _What was his problem again? Oh, right Bruce,_ “yeah, whatever. I’m kinda busy here as –ARGH!” stupid Calvin and stupid Bruce! He hears his wrist snapping when the girl grips and twists his body by just holding his wrist. Because of it, his face is planted on the floor, his gun dropped somewhere and a boot is pressed on his cheeks.

“ _Are you alright?_ ” he hears Calvin asking. _Of course not! I have a freaking Bat stepping on my face. How would you feel about it?_ “Just peachy, thanks for aski—“trying to take the situation lightly, he lets out a small smirk when he answered his comm. Trying to twist away from the new Batgirl’s grip is a bad idea, she kicks him by the chin and Jason coughs from the pain. He cannot focus if Calvin will keep talking to him, _you have a bat problem, deal with it! I have my own bat to settle with as well._ “I’m just gonna turn this off now. As you can see, you’re not the only one who’s been visited by a Bat today and I don’t think this girl is the Batgirl that I used to know.” he immediately throws his comm somewhere, stands up and prepares for a brawl.

The girl steps back— _she’s being cautious_ , he observes. Taking out a knife hidden at his ankle. He surprise attacks her with it. Combining with a punch or kick, he swings the knife like it’s an extension of his body, the new batkid is trying to avoid his attacks by jumping and swing her head and body, she moves gracefully, _like water_. Jason couldn’t help but starts to feel familiar by her movements.

As he got her in a corner, she crouches down and punches him in the gut while kicking him in the face—again. Holy shit! If Jason hadn’t anticipated that kick, his neck would have snapped, that’s just how strong the kick was.

Now lying on the ground, Jason tries to reach out for his gun. Unfortunately for him, the new batgirl kicks it farther away, she looks at him for a minute.

“What do you want?!” he hisses, shit! How could he let her beat him like that?

Before she could put him out of his misery, a knife is thrown at her direction. With her great reflex, she dodges it on time and with ease. Looking for who did it, both Jason and batgirl scans the area for a new possible intruder.

She groans when a new set of knives attack her and meets with a kick on the face.

“Dick?!” Jason draws out a sigh of relief and a confused look when he sees his friend in his Talon armor, standing in front of him, like he is protecting him. That may look great and all but where did he get his weapons and armor? Jason was sure that he hid those somewhere safe.

* * *

“Are you sure that Jason’s working with the Court of Owls?” Helena, who’s still fitting her new costume, asks as she looks at Barbara.

“Positive.” Barbara nods, she types something on the keyboard and two videos showed up. “See this one? This is a security footage found somewhere near Crime Alley.” She hits the play button and it was shown Red Hood running away from a scene before he grappled away. “That’s Jason and this,” she clicks the other video and hit play. “is a new footage of Red Hood.” From the untrained eye, it looks pretty much the same, Red Hood running away from a crime scene before the police or Batman showing up but to them, that’s not the case. The new video showed Red Hood running—faster, his movement seems synchronized and his feet looks lighter and the way grapples is more refined than what Jason normally does.

“That’s not him, isn’t it?” Helena clarifies, her face giving off the quizzical look.

“No, but I think I know who it is.” Barbara starts to type loudly on her keyboard and within seconds there’s another video popping up in the screen. “this was taken when Lincoln March and Bruce were attack, it’s only a minute footage before the assassin, I mean Talon, destroyed the camera but I still manage to salvage it.” she clicks the play button. It is indeed short and fast, Helena doesn’t see much of the action other than the assassin jumping and attacking the two men. She remains silent even when the footage ended, trying to decipher and analyze what she just saw.

“It’s a little iffy and it was a bit of a long-shot but with the help of Cass, I was able to connect the two video together.” she then starts to type in her keyboard. This time the three videos were playing at the same time. She presses a button and the videos are converted into 3-D figures and the background scene omitted to avoid any extraneous variables. The three figures are playing at the same time and what Helena observes is jaw-dropping, “Oh my…” Helena gasps. “That’s…”

“Yeah, the Talon and the new Red Hood have the same movement. They may not be the same person but according to Tim, the Talons have all the same movements and techniques since they’re all been trained the same way.”

“But why do you think Jason’s teaming up with them? Isn’t that a bit out of his character?”

“We still don’t know the reason but I think it has something to do with Bruce or with… you know what, Bruce doesn’t believe me a 100% that’s why he left and wanted to see for himself if Jason really is working with the Court.” Barbara shuts her computer off and looks at Helena. By this time, Helena is already down fitting her new costume. She wears a skimpier and sexier costume, that leaves very little to the imagination, she still has that pointy bat ears on her mask but other than that everything else doesn’t scream Batman at all, even her new vigilante name is different.

“So, Huntress, what are your plans for this night?” she asks in a playful tone.

“You tell me, Oracle.” She quips with the same tone of playfulness. “You’ve sent Batgirl to investigate Jason’s safe house, I don’t think it was a wise decision.” She adds while moving closer to Barbara.

“You still don’t trust her? I’m hurt! Bruce was the one who introduced her to us.” Babs looks at Helena, her face smiling and eyes glinting with anticipation.

“And that’s the reason why.” Helena leans in for a kiss before saying, “I trust her but not completely.”

* * *

Tim and Steph left the manor after the whole confession thing. The two are riding on Tim’s bike going back to their respective homes.

“I think B, wouldn’t mind if you stay with him, Tim.” Steph says, her hands wrap around Tim’s waist as Tim drives her to her place.

He stops his bike right in front of Steph’s apartment complex. “It’s alright Steph, I don’t want to bother him, especially now that he’s still recovering from his ordeal.” He replies, his face looking all gloomy. Steph steps out from his bike, removing the helmet before giving it back to Tim. She touches his shoulder before saying, “My mom won’t mind if I’ll stay out longer tonight, if you want. We can look for clues as to where John is.”

“It’s alright Steph, at least one of use doesn’t have to come back home at an empty house.” He looks up the window at Steph’s place, Stephanie follows his line of sight and sees a silhouette of a woman, presumably Steph’s mom, sitting down waiting for her daughter to come back home.

“Tim, I…” Steph wants to comfort Tim. After finding out about his parents’ murder, Steph seems to be reluctant at leaving Tim alone. She looks at him with guilt and sadness, “I’m fine. Just go back to your mom and I’ll see you tomorrow.” He says, forcing himself to smile.

Hesitating, Steph takes out her key. Before leaving, she kisses Tim at the forehead, “Take care, okay?”

“I will.” He retorts and watches the blonde girl going inside of the apartment.

…

When Stephanie is out of sight, Tim presses a button at his motorcycle, showing a GPS track. “You don’t have to worry about John, Steph. I just found where he’s hiding.” His voice changes from sounding sad to angry within a second.

 


	11. Stop

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a tiny psa:  
> i know that i've said that all the sent prompts in tumblr would be answered after a week but unfortunately, my schedule for this week is busy and i'm afraid that for those who sent me prompts will be answered either around this friday or next week, sorry :(

Jason’s in awe, the way those two move—it looks like fighting is the most natural thing they’ve done. The new batbrat seems to be handling herself pretty well against Dick considering that Dick’s trained to be a killing machine.

The two continue on exchanging blows and Jason couldn’t help but feel something off. Particularly, on the way Dick attacks batgirl. His movement is sloppier. No, not just that but slower and more on the defensive stance, _He’s holding back from killing her, but why?_ He wonders when he sees Dick jumping mid-air to evade batgirl’s attack and didn’t use the opportunity to kill her when she turns her back against him.

Could it be that he’s starting to remember who he is? Jason’s not sure, the previous days he spent with Dick was more or less of him trying to talk to Dick but Dick always given him the cold shoulder by pretending to be asleep. It hurt him but he knows that Dick’s having a harder time to process all of this than him.

“Dick!” he shouts, Dick stares at him. Happiness starts to rise from his chest— he shouldn’t feel happy at this moment but the way Dick stares at him, is just relieving. It wasn’t like before, it’s not lifeless and dull. The way he stares at him, it’s like the way he used to use to look at him—eyes filled with life and light.

(Like the way Dick Grayson looked at Jason Todd.)

“No!” Jason screams when he witnesses batgirl taking advantage of the moment to attack Dick on the chest with her bare hands.

Dick falls on the ground, coughing and groaning. Jason’s blood boils, trying his best to get up and help Dick. His mind begins to turn against him when he feels his head ringing as familiarity hits him upon seeing the new batgirl taking down Dick.

“Stop.” he says, as he points out a gun to her direction, it’s a good thing that she’s too caught up fighting against Dick that she didn’t realize that Jason managed to retrieve his gun.

The new batgirl pauses, looking like she’s contemplating on fighting him head on or stay still. _Seriously?! She’s not afraid of being shot?_ Jason think, his grip on the gun tightens and his body covering Dick to protect him from her.

 _Shit!_ He hisses, his head acting all crazy this time is not a good idea.

Batgirl takes a step forward, Jason’s hand steady focuses on her. “Move one more step and I’ll make sure that it would be your last” he threatens, his hands a millisecond away from pulling the trigger when Dick suddenly launches himself and kicks batbrat in the face.

Disoriented, she tries to attack him with her own version of a batarang, luckily, it only hit on Dick’s inconveniently huge dark mask. She continues to throw more while trying to regain her balance from that attack. Dick dodges some but the last one hit him on his eye. It’s a good thing that his mask has a huge ass glass goggle on it or else he would have had his eye plucked out.

Taking out the mask with an annoyed grunt, Dick fights back by throwing his remaining knives at her with ease and preciseness, cutting her face, legs and arms in the process.

Batgirl’s face is covered with her short black hair. She stops moving but Jason will not take any chances. His breathe hitches while pulling Dick closer to his side. “Sorry kid but you’re outnumbered.” He says and points the gun at her head.

Batkid glares at him with her brown-colored eyes, she slowly steps back. Jason shots a warning shot near her feet, not to move anymore. She stares at the two, her mask fully discarded and her face fully revealed and Jason couldn’t help but gasp.

_“Her name is Cassandra Cain.”_

_“What?” Jason was so caught up in observing her that he totally forgot that Talia was with him._

_“That’s her name.” she looked at him with a half-amused look. “She grew up with her mother, Lady Shiva, and have been taught by her in everything she knows about fighting and passed it down to Cassandra. Her training was further developed by her father, David Cain but after her first kill, she ran away from him and hadn’t been seen for years. It’s unclear whether or not it was according to her own volition to come back to the League. But with her on our side, she’ll become a great asset to us in the future.”_

It’s her! No wonder her movements seems so familiar, “you…” his voice sounding a little unsure. The way she looks at him, her eyes mirroring his—both in shock and fear. Before Jason could do anything else, Batg—Cassandra throws a smoke screen and escapes.

Coughing and waiting for the smoke to be clear. Jason’s head feels enlighten, no wonder he couldn’t shake off that familiar feeling he got from her. That was a League of Assassins member parading as one of the Bats. That girl infiltrated the Bat-clan and no one knows that she’s from the League. Ha! He can’t wait to see what Bruce’s face will be like if he finds out about her.

…

Or maybe it’s the other way around?

He wanted to delve into his new discovery more but any further discussion is thrown off the window when he sees Dick wobbling. He barely catches him when he lost his balance. Jason wraps his hands around him and leans him on his chest. “You’ve done good Dick. Thank you.”

Dick’s hand reluctantly reaches towards Jason’s shirt, “Jay…Jay…Jay…” he repeats before breaking into sobs. Jason hushes him with soothing words like ‘It’s alright’, ‘She’s gone now’, ‘I’m fine’, ‘You’ve done well’. He doesn’t remember how long it had been since he heard Dick calling him but more importantly talk to him, “…I thought I was going to lose you…” His chest aches. First his eyes have returned and now this. If he’s not badly injured right now, he’d give Dick a bear hug. He’s just damn too happy, the way Dick said those words. That voice, his eyes, his warmth, oh god, he missed all of them.

He missed all the times they spent together that out of impulse, he embraces Dick closer to his body as he joins him in crying,

“You’re back… I’m so glad that you’re finally back Dick.”

* * *

Calvin fucked up, Jason gave him the blessing to beat Batman but he didn’t expect this guy to be this strong! Of all people he fought and killed, this guy is the toughest one to beat. Maybe it’s because he’s not allowed to kill him or maybe his getting rusty, who knows but it sure hell is responsible for what’s about to happened next.

Groaning, Calvin tries to get back on his feet. He had his back on the cold hard floor, his face aching and he’s pretty sure that some of his ribs are broken. He coughs, blood spitting out from his mouth.

That’s it, once the night is over, he’s giving back the Red Hood costume, leave Gotham for good and never come back.

Trying to get his composure back, he hears the Bats footsteps getting closer and closer to his direction. Great, he just lost the guy and now he finds him again.

“Hood, we need to talk.” Bat’s low growling voice dominates through the empty room.

“Sorry but I’m not in the mood to talk.” Calvin quips while throwing a knife at Batman. Batman dodges the attack effortlessly but is taken aback when he notices that the knife hit a pipe line causing it to leak water.

Using this chance to escape, Calvin jumps through the fire exit and grapples his way to the furthest building he could manage. His half-broken mask starts to fall as he reach on higher ground.

“I know you’re not Jason, where is he?” Jesus, how the hell did he manage to know where he’s going to hide? Is this what Jason calls his ‘bat’ instincts or something?

“Sorry B, but that’s a confidential information.” He smirks, throwing a sleeping gas and a smoke screen bomb at the same time. Thanks to him being broken beyond normal human capacity, he’s capable of being immune to such things and escapes for the last time, disappearing in the night sky.

* * *

Bruce couldn’t believe that he let that guy escape. His only lead in trying to clean Jason’s name, now gone.

“Dammit!” he curses beneath his breath while trying to detect any heat signatures or any clues on how to track that guy again but to no avail.

‘ _Talons are highly trained in stealth and agility’_

He doesn’t want to believe it. He knows that Jason is a lost soul looking for the light but Bruce is sure that Jason won’t go as far as allying himself with people like the Court. Bruce just doesn’t buy it. There’s no way that Jason could do these things.

Even with all the evidence Oracle gathered had pointed out that Jason is an ally of the Court, Bruce still refuses to believe it.

Taking out his grappling gun, Bruce decides to finish patrol, go back to the cave and conduct his own investigation regarding this matter.

* * *

Tim, wearing his robin costume, scans Jason’s messy safe house. His flashlight blaring through the dark room, he sees that no one’s home, it’s not abandoned from the looks of it but it seems that its occupants have left to go for a walk or something.

This had been the last place his Talon’s tracker had registered but judging from this place, the way some of the furniture are arranged, marks and weapons discarded all over the room, it seems that there had been a fight. No wonder this place looks like a pig sty, even with Jason’s tough demeanor, that guy’s a clean freak and would do anything to maintain order and cleanliness.

How does Tim knows about it? Simple, that’s because he’s been spying on the Red Hood, no, on Jason Todd, ever since he came back to Gotham. He observed and studied him 24/7, his cameras capturing his every movement and hobby, everyone he ever meets, including that renegade Calvin Rose, and every deed he’s done. All captured and taken note by him. That’s why in every illegal act of conduct he did is left to be unseen by the Court (until now) because Tim _needed_ Jason, could him to his advantage.

Like for example, placing all the focus of the Bat-clan on Jason with the whole, ‘he’s allying himself with the court’ while Tim will slowly take down the newly risen Court from the inside.

But there’s only one thing he didn’t calculated for.

And that’s Talon’s disloyalty. This needs to end. Once he takes him back, his Talon needs a severe discipline and reeducation, let him remember who’s his **_one_** and **_only_** master. Let him have their fun now because once Tim gets a hold of Dick again, he’s going to make sure that those two won’t see each other again, let alone Jason touching **_his_** Talon ever again, even if it means ending him completely.

* * *

Dick doesn’t know where they are going but walking down this dirty, poorly lit alley brings a sense of nostalgia to his mind. He scans over the area slowly and carefully, he’s never done anything like this out of habit, it’s always been around the job and even that’s rare. His master doesn’t really like the idea of him being too far away from him for too long.

His master… He pauses to think, does Master Tim knows where he is? Will he find him? Is he worried about him?

Maybe he should ask Jason to talk to Master Tim even just once, to let him know that he’s alright and that he’s gaining his memories from the past. Excitement starts to bubble up inside him, it’s weird, he haven’t felt this kind of feeling in ages.

 _Will Master Tim like Jason?_ He wonders.

…

Jason winces at the pain, they both stop walking. “Are you alright?” Dick asks, Jason had less injuries than him but Jason’s not like him. He’s not used to this kind of pain, even if he’s a crime lord, there are still limits to how far a human can tolerate pain.

Pain… he has a cracked rib, a concussion and a snapped wrist and yet… he doesn’t feel anything. Pain had lost its merit for a long time now, so… does that mean that he’s not human anymore? He said so himself, that there’s a certain limit on how far a person can withstand pain and if he still doesn’t feel any pain, then what is he?

“ _you’re my talon and that should be the only that you’ll ever need”_

His master’s voice echoes through his head. All those times he spend on the Court, the labyrinth, the torture, the humiliation, all of them, coming back to haunt him.

_“Stop! It hurts”_

_“No, you need to learn what pain does to people”_

_“You’re a talon, you don’t need any name or emotions.”_

_“You’re a puppet, a mere tool for the Court’s disposal.”_

_“A tool doesn’t need to have a free will of its own.”_

_“Mercy? What’s that?”_

 It hurts, it hurts so much. His brain, cracking like someone’s splitting it open with their bare hands. He wants to scream but his throat feel dry, his body tensing all over, his vision starting to blurry. Even looking at Jason’s distraught face seems to be fading.

He’s falling…

And the last thing he could remember is...

His master’s soothing voice, “Don’t worry my Talon, I’ve got you.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a small warning: semi-graphic depictions of torture and brainwashing(?)

He’s not sure whether it’s his instinct or his luck that caused them to leave the safe house after Cassandra’s attack but somehow it felt the right decision. Jason knows that his action was a little sudden but he needs to let Dick see, he’s back now and if he could remember him then, maybe, he could remember the place… The place where they first—

It hurts. Every step he takes feels like a wave of pain coursing through his veins. His injuries from the fight cause him to kneel down with a restrained hiss. _Shit!_ He lets out a curse while trying his best to stand up but to no avail. He hears Dick’s voice, “Are you alright?” God, even now. It feels so weird, after all this time, he finally hears his voice for again.

“Yeah, just a little…” he tries his hardest to look as calm as possible. He didn’t want Dick to worry more than he already is.

Looking back at the older man, Jason’s eyes shot wide open, Dick looks in pain, his face distorting and his breathing uneven. _Is he having a panic attack?_ Worried, he forces his injured body to move, to comfort his pained friend but his body continues to betray him as he fails to move once again.

He wanted to scream at himself for being so weak. _Get up dammit!_

Jason’s gaze locks on Dick but somehow his body had been covered by a shadow. Squinting his eyes on the familiar looking shadow, he glares at him. ”You…” he growls.

“Don’t worry my Talon, I’ve got you.” His replacement, Tim, appears out of nowhere as he casually caresses Dick’s face naturally. His anger boils. That bastard, if his body wasn’t badly beaten, he would have jumped and ripped that guy’s hand off Dick’s face.

“…Master…?...”

Master?! Is that psycho… shit! That totally makes sense! No wonder…

“Don’t worry my Talon. You’re safe now.” he says in a gentle tone like he’s talking to a child rather than an actual person. Jason couldn’t comprehend just how fuck up this situation is. He even witness Tim dipping his lips down at Dick’s. _That’s sick!_ He tries to move for the last time, ignoring all the pain and agony just to give that bastard a proper beating but he flinches when he sees Tim looking at him with a smirk.

He sees him reaching out to his comm, reporting, “I’ve found Jason.”

* * *

Busy, Bruce quickly types all that had happened during his patrol before calling it a day. Somehow the stress from failing to talk to Jason’s accomplice had been lifted when he heard from Tim that he had found Jason.

Right now, Jason’s placed in a special prison down in the batcave. Of course he didn’t gave up easily and put on a fight before getting caught but thankfully Tim managed to contain him and brought him here. They haven’t tried interrogating him yet seeing that he’s badly injured, Alfred might come down later and have to tend to his injuries though he firmly believes that injured or not, Jason won’t cooperate with them.

He turns off his computer and sees Alfred tending to Cassandra’s injuries while Barbara’s looking down on her phone. Not only did they manage to catch Jason but it appears that Helena, now sporting her new persona as Huntress, with the help of Spoiler, they managed to spot Jason’s double and caught him as well. They’re bringing him now in the batcave.

Looking around the area, Bruce removes his cape while asking, “Where’s Tim?”

“Tim went home along with John.” Barbara looks at him with all seriousness before wheeling her way to the nearest computer. “I know that you want to get the bottom of this as soon as possible but give those two the chance to talk things through. They’ve been separated for a long time.”

Bruce looks at Barbara like he’s going to argue but she’s right. After all that’s happened, Tim has the right to be with John even just for a little while.

* * *

In the deepest, darkest corners of the Drake household. Dick holds back a pained groan, his hands are tied together with a chain, he’s on his knees, his armor has been stripped off and his back is fully exposed. Fresh red lashes are present on his back as Tim looks darkly at him.

“Did you learn your lesson Talon?” Tim huffs, wiping his sweat at his forehead. Tightening his grip on the whip, he strikes again on his Talon’s back. The pain is too much to be silenced that Talon let out a small yelp. There are some degree as how much Dick could tolerate pain and as a good master Tim is, he knows what his weaknesses are and where to hit him that hurts the most. But the pain is mostly on psychological rather than in physical like bringing up a painful memory in the past. He’s been doing this since he took hold of him. This punishment is merely for reinforcement, to remind Dick who is master is.

“Ye..yes…” Talon answers, holding back the tears before getting whip again. He bites down his lips, not letting the pain escape from his mouth.

“Don’t. Forget. Who. You. Belong. To.” Tim says his tone sounding cold and unforgiving. Every word, he gives his Talon a hard lash on the back and Talon merely stays silent, knowing how much his master not appreciating his sudden responsiveness.

Feeling satisfied, Tim looks at his work, Talon’s back has so many lashes that his back is almost covered with it. Some parts are redder than others and he couldn’t help but notice blood starting to trickle down from it. He may have over done it but it’s for the best. Lifting the Talon’s chin, he asks, “Who do you belong?”

Talon looks at him before leaning his head on his legs. Tim lets out a small chuckle while wrapping his arms around him, giving him a fake sense of comfort while planting small kisses on his forehead Tim says, “That’s right, you only belong to me and no one else’s.”

* * *

Calvin Rose that is the name of Jason’s double. A former circus performer in Haly’s circus, an escape artist and contortionist. Bruce hasn’t dug deeper on his files but it seems that him and Dick Grayson have more things in similar with that thought, Bruce concluded that the circus is the one who’s supply the court with their Talons. Though he’s not sure, he might need to confirm this with Barbara and Tim.

Currently, Calvin’s assigned on a special cell beside Jason. Bruce continues to observe the two from the monitor. Both have been injured from previous fights but have no intentions of being treated despite of Alfred’s persistence. He looks through their cells at different angles; observing, seeing and noticing if the two are trying to communicate non-verbally but to no avail. Jason remains unresponsive, his head tuck on his legs and his back against the wall while Calvin is meditating, legs and arms crossed. Sighing, he shifts his attention on Barbara’s profiling of Dick Grayson’s identity.

“How’s the search?” he asks.

“Not much.” Barbara sighs while taking off her eyeglasses. “The only information I’ve got is that his family got killed during a performance in Gotham. The police has no idea who the killer is and suspects that the killer’s still at large.”

“I remember him, I was there. The night when his parents died.” Bruce looks though the screen showing the picture of the Flying Graysons. “Secretly, I saw myself in him. He witnessed his parents’ death just like me. I wanted to adopt him, to make a difference in his life but before I could do anything about it, he’s already taken by a relative.”

“William Cobb.” Babs pointed out. “I don’t have any info about him but from what Tim had shared, he’s his great-grandfather, their most prized and talented talon. They have this obsession of keeping his legacy that they ordered him to take Dick and train him.” Bruce looks at her with a quizzical look. “I don’t know if you knew about this but the court has a weird way of keeping everything they own even their talons. So even when their talon dies, they can just bring them back in a snap. They have this technology to reanimate the dead by using electrum but honestly, I couldn’t find any more information regarding it.”

“I see.” Bruce nods. “Then that leaves us to interrogate both Jason and Calvin Rose, see what they know about it.”

“I don’t think that would be easy, Bruce. As far as I could remember, Jason hates you—all of us and knows all your interrogation techniques, so it won’t work on him and as for Calvin Rose, if he’s really from the court, then he must have underwent on the same torture as John, I mean as Dick did and maybe more.”

“That may be true but I know how to persuade people into getting what I want to know.” Bruce walks back to the monitor trying to see if there’s any change in Jason’s movement. Expecting Jason to remain still, Bruce’s surprise to see what happened next.

* * *

Tim slouches a little while looking at the night sky. On his hand is the white owl mask the court’s using. Fiddling with it, his face is looking calm and contented. He hums a cheerful tune until he hears his talon approaching him.

He looks at his side to see his Talon in full armor minus the mask. Smiling, he walks towards him. “Remember Talon, this is our time to shine. Make them regret, make them suffer for everything they’ve done to me.” Wearing the mask, he caresses his Talon’s face. “I’m the grandmaster of the court and yet they dare to threaten me and create a new court without my presence? That’s unforgivable.” He spats, his anger boiling through his skin. He worked hard to be in the position he is in today but the members of the court only see him as a child pretending to be leader. Planning attacks behind his back, killing Lincoln March and other things. This madness has to stop and as the grandmaster, it’s his job to solve every problem the court is facing, even if it means killing those who oppose him.

He still remembered the time where he ordered Dick to kill both Grandmaster Clark and his successor Wycliffe in order for him to be the next in line. To show to those brainless owls that he’s fit to be the next grandmaster but it appears that the court didn’t appreciate his efforts and sees his action as a form of treason. That’s why they killed his parents on the spot. Tim was shock at first but he never really cared about them, since they were busy trying to impress the court than their own son. So he merely saw their death as a casualty and nothing else.

“I know that you won’t let me down, right Talon?” he gently cups his face, letting him know that failure is not an option and another attempt on being captured is unforgivable. Talon immediately nods, understanding his master’s demands.

“Good, now go and destroy what’s left of the court. It’s time for their era to end and for another to rise, the Parliament of Owls will raise in their ashes and I’ll be the one to lead it to its greatness.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you guys like how dark tim is now, just wait until it gets to the last part XD
> 
> note: this is unbeta'd so if you see any mistakes, they're my fault and please tell me if there are inconsistencies in this chapter cuz, i tend to space out when i write stuff ;D

Bruce’s eyes widens. Talons have invaded the cave and apparently trying to free both Jason and Calvin from their cells. Out of precaution, he puts the whole manor on lock down, not wanting to have any more invaders than he already has. He signals everyone in the manor about the invasion, he calls out to Cass and Steph for back-up while he orders Helena to escort Barbara and Alfred in the panic room. Putting on his cowl, Bruce immediately dashes through the prison cells.

Bruce doesn’t want to believe it. He knows that Jason may be a little unstable but that kid still knows what’s the difference between what’s right and what’s wrong. He couldn’t imagine Jason allying himself to people who are cruel and heartless especially towards the poor and helpless but as much as he hates to admit it, all the evidences point out that Jason, really is an ally of the court. This invasion is the last straw.

* * *

“Jason, we got company.” Calvin immediately stands up upon seeing the talons appearing. There’s a tone of worry and alertness in his voice.

“Don’t worry about it, bat’s cells could withstand the strengths of metahumans and aliens. So we’re fine.” He calmly replies when he sees those brainless assassins walking around the cave like they’re finding something. “But what I don’t understand is, how did these guys manage to find out about this place? I mean everyone knows how paranoid B is and besides, Bruce knows how to keep this place a secre—“Jason stops talking upon remembering what he had witnessed earlier. _Tim that little psycho!_ His anger rekindles, the way how that _pretender_ touched Dick, caressing and kissing him so naturally. If only he could punch in his smug-ass face but he shivers by just remembering how that kid easily smiled and pretended to be the victim when they caught him. That bastard had been playing with everyone this whole time! He couldn’t help how stupid and blind he is for not seeing it coming.

And he’s pretty sure that Tim’s the one who gave away Bruce’s location. “Say Calvin.”

“What?”

“I think you forgot to tell me about the identity of the current grandmaster.”

* * *

Tim sits at his chair, humming in a tone of amusement while watching how Batman and the rest try to defend the Batcave.

No one would suspect that it is him who orchestrated the whole event. Sure, the only talon he has control right now, is Dick but he knows how the remaining members of the court are getting desperate and because of it, he predicted their next action. Just to be 100% sure, he has people from the inside to give him intel and in return, he gave them the blueprints of the cave. If this is the only way to beat the remaining members of the court, then why not? It saves him the time and energy, and if they’re lucky, they might just take down some of the members of the bat-clan along with them.

Feeling contented with his plan, he shifts his position into something comfortable before continuing to watch the whole skirmish.

* * *

There are around five talons in the sub-basement where the cells are being held.

Batgirl easily incapacitates the talons while Spoiler tries to take Jason and Calvin somewhere more secure. As she’s trying to type the passcode, a talon tries to sneak on her but Batman comes with such speed and force that she first thought she imagined the whole thing and next thing she knows, the talon was beaten and Batman had pin Jason on the wall.

“What did you do?!” he demanded while slamming Jason’s body in the wall, Batman had a tight grip on his neck and he has no intentions of letting go.

“Sorry B, but I didn’t do anything wrong.” Jason simply smiles, trying to be unfazed by Batman’s signature growl while trying to move from the choke hold Batman has on him. “In fact if you have just the time to talk to your sidekicks rather than brooding, you would have your answer.” He adds which earn him another hard slam on the wall. This time a small groan escapes from his throat but he still looks at him with a smile, “No, you would have prevented all of this.” his smiles has now turn into a frown accompanied with a glare.

“Answer me!” Bruce ignores this and tightens his grip on him.

“Boss, I think that we should…” Steph wants to warn the Bat about the incoming talon but she fights it by herself.

“Sorry B-man. I wish I could say more but I already gave you too much clues.” Jason snickers, twisting his body a bit, he manages to escape Bruce’s grasp. Batman trying to immobilize him, got blocked when the Talon and Steph entered to the cell fighting. Helping her fight the assassin, Batman sees Jason escaping.

“I’ll handle this, go and stop him.” he tells Steph while punching the Talon and throwing several batarangs at it.

Steph complies with a nod and runs her fastest speed. She nearly catches him but Jason cheats by fastening his pace. With that, Jason uses the opportunity to lock Bruce and the Talon inside.

Dread creeps through Steph’s face when she looks inside, Bruce is trying his best to beat the Talon but the talon keeps on regenerating while Cass is also fighting her best against the other talons. She feels sad for letting them down. Forgetting about Jason, she’s surprise when she felt the cold touch of a knife on her throat.

“Come on blondie, if you value your life, I think it would be wise to meet my demand.” Jason wraps his arm around her neck while the other hand steadies itself holding on the knife. To make sure to make his threat is real, he lightly taps the sharp side of the knife on her neck causing a small amount of blood trickling down.

He then drags her to Calvin’s cell, prompting her to open it.

“Sorry handsome but I’m not that weak.” She smirks and easily throws Jason on the ground. “And besides, I know that you don’t kill people without reason.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I can’t hurt you.” He retorts by getting up immediately and kicks her at the stomach, followed by the strongest headbutt he could give causing her to fall to the ground, unconscious.

“Steph!” Batgirl calls out and knocks the remaining talons out and throws her own version of the batarang, pinning them all in the cave before dashing towards her friend’s side.

“Hey, ‘batgirl’.” Jason says sarcastically. “I think you already know what I want and what will happened if you don’t.” as much as Jason hates playing dirty, sometimes the street rat in him still lingers and ignites those old memories in which he needs to fight dirty in order to survive. In which case is now since the talons Cass beat are starting to regenerate back and Bruce is on the verge of opening the cell.

Cass glares at him for a few seconds and then stares back at her unconscious friend, “8-1-5-0”

“Thanks, really appreciate the effort.” He says when the passcode she gave him wasn’t a fake, the door opens and Calvin escapes the cell.

Jason looks at Bruce, who beats the talon into a bloody pulp. _Huh, so they still don’t know how to beat them._ He muses before speaking, “Really Bruce. All you need is just to talk to your people and you’ll find out the truth.” He looks at him then at Cass. “Two truths in fact.” As soon as Bruce opens the cell, Jason and Calvin run to the nearest exit they could find.

* * *

Steph wakes up to the sound of footsteps running. “..ugh…” disoriented, Steph slowly rises up. “I’m fine, really.” She says but Cass gives her a doubtful expression.

The talons that Cass have pinned are coming on their way, preparing to fight, Bruce steps forward. “I’ll handle the talons here, you two go and bring Jason back.” Bruce takes out his remaining weapons, he has no way of knowing on how to properly beat them but if he could place all of them in the cell. Then, that would give him enough time to bring Jason back and investigate on who instigated this invasion.

With a plan on his mind, Bruce reassures the two that he’ll be fine, “I’ll go after you when I’m done with this.”

Both Steph and Cass looks hesitant but follow his order and ran after Jason.

* * *

Helena, Barbara and Alfred manage to reach the panic room without a scratch on them. There are monitors present, showing every inch and angle inside and outside of the manor. It appears that the talons in the cave are the only intruders which is weird, considering that if they’ve breached the cave, they must have known that Bruce is Batman.

Not liking how the whole situation is played out, Barbara stops Helena when she hears her saying that she’ll help the others. “Helena, stay here.” Babs stops Helena from walking any further by holding on her wrist.

“I need to help them Babs, I just can’t stay here and do nothing.” Helena lets go of Barbara’s hand.

“But you—“

“Listen, Alfred’s with you. He can protect the two of you if anything’s going to happened and besides if I won’t help them then what kind of hero am I?” She brushes her fingers through Barbara’s face before giving her a kiss on the forehead. “I’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

Helena walks out to the panic room, preparing to close it

“Don’t worry Miss Gordon, Miss Bertinelli can handle herself.” She hears Alfred comforting Barbara, that was the last thing she heard before—

“No!” Barbara’s scream echoes through the room, the doors starting to close and Helena last sees her and Alfred’s face full of terror and fear.

She couldn’t believe it, someone had sneak behind her and slit out her throat. Now on the ground, she glares at the person responsible for it. “You…” she breathes out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> helena!!! you can't die yet! ~~the dying starts in the last chapter~~


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woah, another chapter? why so fast? lol, just joking XD this was supposed to be the continuation of the previous chapter but i realize it got too long so i cut it in half :3

She couldn’t help but feel stupid, all those days spent training. Wasted. She’s supposed to be a vigilante, a hero who can protect the weak and yet she…

It’s hard to breathe, her neck was slit. It nearly hit her anterior jugular vein, her throat hurts. She used all her remaining strength to see who did it, she let out a cursed breathe saying, “You…”

A tall dark figure smiles. He didn’t have a mask on and Helena could easily figure out who it is. A man that she failed to protect, a promising man who could change the city for the better—all of those are lies. And the man standing in front of her is here to prove it. Lincoln March, a dead man, slit her throat behind her back, he’s wearing a plastered smile on his face as he continues to watch her bleed to dead.

“The night of the owls has come and the Owlman will lead them to hunt.” She hears him muttering, her vision blacking out. Heavy footsteps leave her be.

 _Shit!_ If only she could warn them about him…..

* * *

After seeing Helena got hurt. Barbara hits the cold metal door as hard as she could.

“No! No! No!” that’s all she could say before giving up and sobbing. Alfred comes to her aid and hugs her to comfort. She cries while holding on to Alfred, clutching her arms around the old butler. She curses her existence for letting this happened. She’s _supposed_ to be smarter than this.

She’ll never forgive that man for hurting Helena. She’ll make him pay—Lincoln March will pay for all of this. Having eidetic memory is one of her advantages, even though she only see a few second of the event, she could still remember the face of Helena’s assailant. She’s surprised at two things, 1.) Helena being hurt and 2.) Lincoln March being alive. She checked the hospital and police records on the day that man died. She saw all the reports, the death certificate and Lincoln’s body being checked for autopsy. So how was he alive? No, that’s stupid. It’s obvious that the court has something to do with it.

 _Why do they want him as their talon?_ She asks herself, no that’s not it either. He’s wearing a different outfit compared to them. He wears something more unique. A silver clad armor with the face of an owl in the middle acting as a breastplate.

Wiping her tears, she wheels herself to monitors. Typing her quickly she opens her mouth, “there’s still time we can save Helena.”

“As much as I want to believe that Miss Gordon but the panic room won’t open until Master Bruce will lift the lockdown.” Alfred voices his concerns.

“We’ll see just how strong Bruce’s security against mine.” She types faster with a determined look. That’s right, first they need to get out of this place, save Helena and then find a way to communicate to Bruce and the others about Lincoln March.

* * *

“Do you know where we’re going” Calvin asks while trying his best not to be hit by the cave’s interior. They ended up somewhere deeper in the cave which there’s no more light present. It’s a good thing that he’s been trained as a talon or else he would have just bumped on everything. Relying on the sound of Jason’s footsteps as a guide, he blindly follows him.

“Of course, I grew up in this cave and I know every nook and cranny there is.” Jason’s filled with pride as he speak those words. He stops walking when he touches a feign substance on the cave’s wall. He presses the fake rock and revealed a hidden keyboard. “As paranoid and obsessive Bruce is, he has tiny exits whenever a lock down is initiated. After all, you’ll never know who locks down the manor, it could be the enemy. So it’s better to be safe than to be sorry.” He remembers those time when he makes fun of Bruce’s paranoia but is now thankful for it because they can now escape this hell hole and never come back. After typing the password the keyboard signed and beeped ‘incorrect’ in which he let out a,”dammit!”

It might have sounded a little louder than he thought because the next thing he hears is;

“Stop!”

Looking where the voice came from, they both see the two girls running towards their direction. Each hand holding a small flashlight. So it’s easier to identify who those two are.

“Jesus, you two won’t just quit won’t you?” he expurgates. “Here you go Cal, I managed to steal some on the ground.” Jason takes out something from his back and tosses most of the discarded knives of the Talons on Calvin leaving him with only one. He’s really not good with knife throwing and could probably do more damage with just one knife. So yeah, he’s giving the rest to the guy who knows how to use them more efficiently.

“We’re not here to hurt you.” Jason backs out a little bit, his body posing in a defensive yet calming stance.

“Yeah right.” Step says sarcastically while rolling her eyes. Jason might see her point since her nose was starting to bleed from the headbutt he gave her earlier.

“Cass, you know that I’m not part of the court, they’re our enemy as well. You know that don’t you?” he shifts his attention on the new batgirl knowing that talking to Spoiler won’t go anywhere.

Cass cringes. “Cass, don’t listen to him, he’s just manipulating you.” Steph looks at her with a determined face while touching her shoulders. “He must be the one who told the court where we are.”

Cass looks at her for a second.

“You knew who did this didn’t you? The one who’s really responsible.” Jason’s not going to give up. There’s too much violence involved in this fight already and if he can win over their trust by using his words, then that might be great.

Cass shifts her gaze towards Jason and then back at Steph before nodding.

“Please… just let us go.” He begs, dropping his knife on the ground. Showing those two that he’s not a threat that all of these, the things that have happened, he’s not responsible for it. His body is still tired and sore, his muscles are aching but that doesn’t matter, he needs to leave and save Dick from that psycho.

“I don’t think this won’t work, let’s just beat them.” Calvin suggests by shoving him at the side and prepares to throw his knives when a pained groan escapes from the other side. They’re surprised to see Cass knocking out Steph by punching her in the stomach.

“Go.” She says with guilt on her face like she’s starting to regret what she has done.

“Thank you.” Jason says while Calvin runs ahead, he starts to walk but stops after one realization. “He’s coming here isn’t he?” he asks, his voice trembling.

“Yes.” Cass replies lowly.

“Shit! First this little psycho and now the demon-spawn.” He curses while punching the wall. This is really not the good time to be in Gotham right now, first the owls are rising and now the demons? What’s next? The JLA?

“ _I’ll give you two months Jason. Only two months, no more, no less and if you failed to clean Gotham by that time. I’m sorry to say this but my son will be the one to take over.”_ Talia’s voice echoes through his head. _Shit!_ he completely forgot about their deal.

“This is bad,” he mutters looking back at Cass, who worriedly looks at her unconscious friend. “If you want to escape this.” he approaches her, touching her shoulder looking all earnest and concern, “from all of this I mean. I suggest you leave Gotham now before they’ll find you.”

“You know that I can’t—“Cass looks like she’s believing him for a second but skepticism change her look.

“They don’t own you Cass. Like the court doesn’t own their talons.” He says bitterly while looking how frightened Cass is. “Hey, if you can’t do it alone. You can bring blondie with you. She seems like a great company and I’m pretty sure that you are great friends already.” With that, Jason left them in the cave. His mind is only set on one thing and that’s rescuing Dick from the pretender Tim Drake.

* * *

His master has given him the order to kill all the remaining court members in their hideout. Even the ones who pledge their allegiance to him and Dick fulfilled his master’s desire without any questions. His hands are now soaked in blood as he walks away from the burning remains of what’s once the court’s hideout. Aside from the sound of flames crackling, engulfing the whole area, screams of terror and fear echoes throughout the area.

He hates it. He doesn’t understand why he hates it, he’s done this a million times before, what makes this so different? Why does he feel sad about taking one’s life, he just doesn’t get it. Not only that but it took him longer to take them down, this doesn’t feel like him at all, this—

“ _You’re Dick Grayson.”_

Those teal colored eyes, he couldn’t forget how beautiful and honest they look. The man who told him that everything’s going to be alright, the one who told him who he really is, the one that he—

“ _I love you.”_

_Dick stared blankly at him like he’s going or not. “Umm… thanks? I love you too Jason.” He ruffled the thick dark hair of the younger man. Jason scowled at him, “I’m serious! I really love you!” he shouted, Dick couldn’t help but giggle, seeing how Jason tipping his toes just so they could see eye-to-eye._

_“And I love you too, Jason. You know that, you’re the only one I got, you’re like family to me.” He replied, trying not to anger the growing teenager than he already was._

_“Argh, you just don’t get it don’t you?” Jason threw his hand up in the air out of frustration. “I don’t love you like that, I love you like—“ Jason’s expression was priceless, who would have thought that it only took a kiss to the cheeks to make him fluster like that._

_“I know and I feel the same way about you too.”_

Jason… he remembers him, remembers how small and scrawny he was, he remember all the things they did together. He remembers the time when he confessed to him. How they proclaimed their love to each other, he remembers everything. Even the time when he found out that he died…

Jason. He grew up so much, he’s not the scrawny little kid he used to. Now, he’s a vigilante under the name of the Red Hood, an enemy of his master and of the Bat. There’s no doubt that master would ask him to kill Jason but he couldn’t do that especially when…

“…Jay…” he speaks, his voice hoarse, tears running down his eyes. How could he ever forget about him? He knows that he already angered Master Tim for the last time but he needs to see him—needs to feel his warmth against his skin, to say those words again. To see Jason for the last time before Master Tim will order to kill him (again).

* * *

After Talon’s failure and reeducation, Tim doubled his tracking on Dick. He couldn’t afford to lose him again, it doesn’t matter how many allies die for him as long as Talon’s by his side, everything will alright.

Shifting his gaze away from the invasion of the manor, he notices Talon’s course shifting instead of going back to his side, Talon goes somewhere else. To a place that Tim knows by heart— _red hood’s safe house._

Angry, he stands up from his chair and dashes his way to Talon’s location and here he thought this day would end without him lifting a finger.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so sorry for the late update!!! i've been checking through my files and noticed i haven't posted this chapter out and this has been sitting in my laptop for more two months now O_o!!! so i hope you guys will like this one ^^

Why isn’t things going according to plan? First it was his talon’s disloyalty and now this? Apparently the court has still some _more_ tricks up to their sleeves and it’s a good thing Tim had checked all the cameras in Wayne Manor before leaving or else everything he planned would have been ruined.

Lincoln March had always been a wildcard in Tim’s eyes. He never understood why the court would want a man who has no family or history related to the court and yet was granted membership. It angered him, after all the court is all about legacy and that for sure Lincoln March isn’t. He always had seen him as an anomaly and to be honest, Tim was happy when Helena announced he was dead but it seems the court used it as a ruse to invade the Wayne manor and dress him up as ‘Owlman’ as a last pathetic plan to beat Batman.

Tim may have gone sloppy in checking up on anyone using the lab to resurrect Lincoln March but he’s not afraid to correct his mistake. He can’t afford to let Lincoln March kill Bruce or let Bruce know about his _real_ actions. He still have some use for Bruce, after all.

His talon may have disobeyed him for the last time but it can wait, and with that, Tim reluctantly changes his direction towards the Wayne manor.

* * *

“So this is good bye then.” Calvin looks at Jason, both of them gasping for air after running nonstop in order to escape.

They manage to safely exit the cave and is now in the outskirts of Gotham. It’s already nighttime, Jason suspects they’ve been held captive in the cave for more than 24 hours. The cold air sends a chill down his face, the moonlight shining softly over the city. The city looks peaceful from afar but Jason knows it’s not, Gotham is still Gotham. After a few good deep breathes, Jason looks at Calvin and says, “I guess it is. It’s been a good run Cal but I think we need to leave this city, pronto.” Jason air quotes his fingers to emphasize the last word and offers Calvin a handshake, of course the other man gladly accepts the offer and shakes his hand with a smile.

The camaraderie they established is nothing Jason had experienced in the bat-clan. Calvin’s different, he never judged him for killing criminals and understood the meaning of survival and death. He’s grateful for what this renegade talon had done for him. If he hadn’t met Calvin, he’s pretty sure Dick would have killed him when they first met each other. Dick…he still needs to save him from that psycho pretender, Drake. “Sorry for dragging you in this situation and thank you for everything you have done. Hope to see you soon Cal.”

“You too Jason.” With a nod, Calvin turns his back ready to leave but he notice that Jason’s going on the opposite direction as him, Jason’s going back _in_ Gotham. “Jason, wait.”

Looking back, he asks, “What?”

“Before you go there’s something I need to tell you.” _It’s better late than never_ , Calvin thinks. Curiosity immediately appears on Jason’s face, he turns his body fully—looking at Calvin face to face. With a gulp, the other man rubs the back of his neck and starts speaking, “Remember the time you asked about the scars on Jonathan’s back?”

“Of course, how could I forget?” bitterness can be heard in his tone. Jason tries his best not be affected by that question but remembering Dick’s predicament really angers him. Especially when he found out who Dick’s master is.

_He and Calvin were still in the couch, well it’s more of him sitting on the couch and Calvin standing at the window sill nearby. It’s been five days since he brought Dick back home yet… every time he tries to start a conversation with him; Dick would turn his back and ignore him. He hates how his friend had gone from a ball of energy into this emotionless puppet, he didn’t know what happened to Dick when he died and it infuriates him. Dammit! If only he hadn’t fallen for that clown’s trap, none of these would have happened. If only he didn’t… no, nothing will change. It’s all in the past now, no matter how much he wanted to change the past, he can’t. All he could do now is to suck it all up and accept the consequences of his action and he did (even the ones that he hated) but what he can’t accept is the fact that Dick is capable of killing anyone in an instant. He’s not that kind of person, he never was and never will be, he refuse to accept that this talon is the same as his friend as his—_

_“You’re kidding right?” Calvin’s sarcastic tone and unamused face brought a frown on Jason’s face. After a week of Dick giving him the cold shoulder, Jason called Calvin for a favor. He knew that he can’t leave Dick alone, probably because he might escape from his place and he can’t afford to lose him **again** but the Red Hood can’t stay MIA for more than a week or else all his efforts for his revenge will turn to nothing._

_“Seriously? Are you joking or not?” Calvin snapped his fingers to bring Jason’s full attention at him._

_“Yeah, do you think that I’m the kind of guy to joke around?” Jason retorted, feeling a bit annoyed at what Calvin’s doing to him._

_“Normally yeah. But I guess you’re really not that type of guy. Anyways of course, everyone underwent torture. Why do you think I have these scars? From a failed show, please.” a tiny scoff escaped from his throat. “I maybe one of the greatest escape artist around the world but even I can’t escape the court’s wrath.”_

_“I see…”_

_“But… regarding Jonathan…. Yeah he’s a special case. I mean he was trained by own great-grandfather. So that’s like rough, I guess? And I don’t know if I should be saying this; but during my time on the court, I spend my free time exploring around the area, lurking at the shadows, using what I’ve learnt from them to find a blind spot that I can use as an escape latch.” As Calvin started to talk, Jason gave him an unimpressed look. “Anyway, when I was exploring the labyrinth, I heard him—Jason, just calm down okay?— He was being tortured, I never saw it directly but judging from the sound being inflicted to him, that’s what I concluded and that’s not the worse part.”_

_“What do you mean?” Jason looked at him eagerly, he was gripping on the couch to tight that the cover might tear from his grasp._

_“I think he was being tortured not because of failure but because he still remembers who he was. I mean, it’s essential for a talon to surrender everything to the court but the court wouldn’t mind it if he/she could still remember their past as long as you give yourself fully to them.” Calvin paused and gulped. Jason was almost fell to the floor due to him scooting closer and closer to the former talon. He doesn’t want to hear more about Dick’s suffering but he can’t stop listening, he needed to know—to know who the fucker was responsible for it. “There was no night I will not hear him cry or scream but as time goes by, the sound decreases until… there’s only silence. At first, I thought he died but boy was I wrong. We only met once as a person and I got to say. That kid looked terrible, his eyes were so empty that you might mistake him as one of the dead talons. But his movements were amazing, so agile and flexible that you might get distracted by how graceful he is.”_

_“So you’re saying that they torture him to the point that he can’t remember his name so that he’ll be the greatest among you guys?”_

_“I don’t know but that’s not the worse part.”_

_“Then what is?” the  anger wasn’t hidden in that question._

_“I think the one who’s responsible for all of this was a kid. I mean I’m not sure but it sounded like a kid, not just a kid a creepy one, you know like those kids in horror movies you see…”_

Not trying to get angry from what he remembers that night. Jason tries to relax himself by clenching and unclenching his fist.

“I mean, I never answered your question in the cave. He’s really not the new grandmaster since he kinda proclaimed it for himself.”

“You mean Drake?”

“Yeah…”

“That bastard! I’ll kill that pretender.” Jason swears and the want to punch something out of frustration, escalates.

“Wait. One last thing. Do you know that real reason how I manage to escape?”

“It’s because you’re one hell of an escape artist?”

“No, it’s because that kid ordered—no brainwashed Jonathan into doing whatever he wants. Jesus, I can’t believe I’m just remembering this now, the way that kid looks at him, is just weird and if you think about it, it explains the child-like voice I heard in the past. Anyways, the event all shook us, not only the court but the talons as well, Jonathan was supposed to show his new learnings from training when, he suddenly slit the throat of the grandmaster, of course, us talons immediately knew what to do next but he easily evaded us and killed the guy who’s next in line to be the grandmaster. It was hell, every owl was for themselves, ordering and demanding the confused talons to protect them from his attacks, using that opportunity, I escaped and the last thing I heard before leaving was the kid proclaiming himself as the new grandmaster.”

“That fucker!” Jason roars, his feet kicks the nearest pebble he could find out of anger. “And that happened how many years ago?”

“Two.”

“I see.” 

“Good luck Jason.”

“Yeah you too.” it sounded more of a grumble more than an actual response but who cares! He can barely hold his anger anymore and with that, the two goes on their separate ways.

* * *

Barbara’s sweat drops from her chin. Hacking into Bruce’s system is a lot of work but not that hard to do. A soft plush material is being wipe on her face, “Thanks Alfred.” She smiles, looking back at the old butler before continuing her duty on hacking Bruce’s security. “I just need a few more seconds before…” with one last click on the keyboard, the metal doors starts to unlock. Their faces smile when the door fully opens itself.

Immediately, Barbara wheels herself towards Helena, who’s lying on the floor, barely wheezing from her injury. “Helena… god…” choke sobs escape from her throat as she tries to touch Helena.

Helen weakly open her eyes. She tries to smile but her face looks pained. “Don’t worry Helena, Alfred’s got first aid.” Barbara soothes her by touching her face while tears starts to fall from her face. She clenches on her partner’s hand tightly as Alfred rushes to her side to conduct the first aid.

With Alfred busy with the first aid, Barbara notice a weird sound echoing. “No.” her eyes widens. “Nononono, this can’t be happening.” She mutters, her eyes focus on the windows being unlocked.

She’s 100% certain she made sure not to disable the lockdown when she hacked into the manor’s security system. She never made any mistakes because she doubles, triples check the codes before applying it. So why is this happening? The only one that could do this is either Bruce or… _Tim!_ But he’s not here, he can’t possibly—

“Miss Gordon, I have my hands full with Miss Bertinelli right now and I think it will be wise if you could do something in stopping this mess.” Alfred says in a calming tone. She’s always amazed by how Alfred could handle any situation pretty well.

“Yes, of course Alfred.” Barbara quickly replies, her sight already locked on the computers but her body is reluctant in leaving Helena’s side. Forcing herself to move, Barbara rushes to the panic room and tries to stop further unlocking of the security.

Soon after, Alfred brings Helena inside. He manages to stop the bleeding from her throat but is still too far from securing Helena’s life. Feeling like someone’s watching them, Barbara’s eyes focuses all over the area, feeling a bit unsettled with all of what’s happening. Her feeling is later verified with the sound of metal doors and barricades fading and is replace with the whirling of gears and bolts going back to normal, the whole mansion’s returning to its lockdown state with them securely lock inside.

With a confuse look, both Alfred and Barbara stare at each other—both dumbfounded with what just happened.

“What just…I didn’t even…” trying to ask the butler for clarification, the sound of a system error echoes throughout the panic room.

Trying to stop the alarming sound, the feed from the different cameras are still visible, she notice Cass and Steph are on the subbasement and it seems like they’re arguing about something, Bruce is locking all the talons he beat, he looks injured and out of breath, Lincoln March is not far away from him. It would be wise to warn Bruce ahead. Trying to reach the comm. link, she notices something odd, _this is can’t be happening…_

Hands shaking, she’s surprise when the all the monitors turn to black, small whirling sound of gears like the air ducts being close and a mechanical voice says,

‘ _Panic Room in maximum security, oxygen level 50% remaining, remaining time left: 30 minutes’_

Damn! There’s no way she’ll be beaten by this.

* * *

Cass stares at Steph’s limp body, she’s not supposed to feel this way but…

Tears, tears are falling down her eyes. Holding back the sobs, she touches her friend’s semi-warm skin, “We could have left. Leave everything behind and not tell your secret, so why…” her eyes immediate glare at the man standing in front of her.

His smile had always been unnerving. The way he hold himself, she always hates how smug and confident the guy is. Having the possession of noblesse and prestige by your side, it made her feel dirty about herself—feel like he’s more important than her. Even now, his eyes had shown no remorse. “..she…loved you…” she hates saying those words because it’s  making her feel like Steph is naïve girl who easily trusts and loves everyone but she isn’t like that, she’s much more stronger and wiser than anyone she knew.

“So?” blood drained from her face, the way he speak those words so coldly. It reminds her of her masters back in the league, the way throwing people away like there some kind of pawn, she hates it.

_‘They don’t own you.’_

Jason’s words resonate throughout her mind; she wanted to escape from here, wanted to escape from the league, wanted to escape from everything she hates. She really wants to but no matter what, the league will always have a hold of her like a dog in a leash, she’ll be forced to come back crawling to them. “you monster…” she tries stabbing him but a weak hand stop her.

“..no..” Steph weakly looks at her, her face now looking all pale, the once beautiful and vibrant girl she’s… gone.

“You’re still alive, huh? Either way, with the wound you have. You won’t last long.” The more she hears him talking, the more he sound like he’s mocking them. Mocking their feeble attempt for change.

“Please let us go.” She begs for the last time, feeling her pride whisking away as she force those words pass her lips.

He simply shrugs, turning his back, he walk on the opposite direction, his footsteps echoing as he continues on marching towards where Bruce is. He always had this aura around him, the aura of a person who wants to be accepted, to be noticed. Somehow, Cass feels pity for him but she can’t and she won’t.

Tim Drake had always been a bane to the league’s existence especially when he announced the formation of his parliament to the league. Of course, the league had no plans in joining his uprising since for them, the way Tim Drake took over as the head lacks finesse and honor and the league simply finds it unfit to be affiliated with such tyranny.

She could still remember how stoic the young grandmaster’s look was when the league rejected his offer. His eyes were cold, even now, when he took Steph in surprise by stabbing her in the back. It makes Cass uncomfortable just how inhumane he could be. She could only remember one time when his eyes didn’t look so cold and it was when he looked his _prized_ talon… with the realization, she says, “you won’t have him you know. Jason will take him away from you and you won’t be able to do anything about it.”

Tim Drake stares at her, his eyes are icy and cold as ever. “You don’t know my talon, no matter how free he thinks… he’s always be mine.” His smile sends shivers down to her spine. She holds Stephanie close to her just in case but Tim Drake didn’t do anything to them and just left.

“Don’t worry Steph, I’ll save from all of this.” using her remaining strength, she carries her unconscious friend in her back and starts to head to the same exit Jason used. “Just like how you saved me, I promise you, I’ll return the favor.”

* * *

Before heading to kill the pretender, he decides to drop by at one of his safe houses and try to get in gear. As he sneaks in to the window, a shadowy figure emerges from the corner, trying to reach for the switch and a hidden gun nearby. When the moonlight reflects on the dark corners of his place, he’s surprise to see the familiar face he once thought he cannot see until everything is over.

 _How…_ he wonders but the first thing that comes out of his mouth is;

“Dick…”

“Jason…”

The two long lost friends stare at each other, relief course through Jason’s face as his body starts to fall. With all the crazy things have happened, his adrenaline filled body must have reached its limits and decides to give in in the worst possible time. But instead of falling on the cold hard floor, his body is catch by Dick.

“Jay…” his voice, he doesn’t know what hurts more, not hearing him clearly or the fact that he’s losing consciousness. Shit! This isn’t the right time to sleep, he tries to fight it, tries to keep his eyes open but the more he sinks his body closer to Dick, the more he feels safe and with that his eyes have fallen to the abyss.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what do you guys think? just one more chapter to go!
> 
> and if there are any inconsistencies, please let me know :)


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pls be mindful of the tags and additional ones will be added later to avoid spoilers :)

Jason’s face hurts, no scratch that, his  _entire_ body hurts. Even the littlest movement hurts, he tries to wince from the pain but wincing hurts as well. So he just lied there, perfectly still, even his breathing is limited. His eyes closed and his body aching. He tries to remember, tries to think how all of these happened. He tries to focus and asks himself,  _how did this happened anyway?_  

Oh, that’s right. He was on his way to visit Dick when he saw a couple of thugs corning an old lady as they plan on stealing her hard earned cash. The fight didn’t end well, that explains the aching body but where is he exactly? He can’t be outside, his skin feels warm, feels  _comfortable._ Not knowing where he is, he forces his eyes to open, he could feel a gentle motion touching his face.

"Dick," he says as soon as his eyes open. Other than seeing him, Jason could see the cracks in the walls and the old paint job cracking, meaning he is lying in Dick’s workplace—his home.

“I’m glad you’re awake now.” The older man smiles back at him. Even without lights, his expressive bright blue eyes sparkle. It causes Jason to smile back at him. "You should be care next time." his hands still continues to brush his hair, it feels good. Jason lets out a small contented sigh. "I know you only want to help other people but please, take care of yourself as well, okay?"

"Okay. But I could have beaten them ya know!" he replies with his hands up in the air, the more he speaks, the more he starts to feel something's weird, he knows this is supposed to be one of those comforting times whenever he’s feeling under the weather but why can't he shake the feeling of being weird? It's like something is off, he tries to think what it is. But every time he does, his mind always ends up black.

"Is there something wrong?" Dick asks.

He stares back at him. There's  _definitely_ something wrong. Dick can't be this happy. He's not allowed to show any emotions. He can't be this young. He’s supposed to be a grown adult. His eyes can't be this bright. He can’t be living here. He doesn’t have freedom. Millions of things pop out from his mind about Dick ant he doesn’t understand why he’s thinking it, the only question he ask is:

**_Why_ ** **?**

Why indeed? Of all the people he knows, isn’t Dick supposed to be the one that deserves to be happy? So why is Jason think about those horrible things?

**_Think harder! Remember…_ **

Like the electricity jolting down his veins, Jason snaps back to reality and wakes up. His eyes shot wide open, his body gasping for air. 

"Are you alright?" a concerned voice asks.

Turning his head he sees Dick, all clad in his black assassin armor but his face, it has the familiarity that Jason knows all too well. That’s right, Dick’s a Talon, he couldn’t have freedom because that pretender, Tim Drake, keeps him in a short leash.

But he’s here now and he couldn’t believe it. Out of impulse, he hugs him tightly in his embrace. "God, it's you." before basking the great feeling of relief and comfort. He pulls him away from his arms and just stares at him, his mind is not playing tricks on him, isn't it? "Yo-you, you're here! But how?!" 

The only response he got is a hug and a, "I missed you, Jason." And he didn’t care about how Dick got here anymore and rewraps his arms around his body.

…

After what seemed like an eternity, the two manage to settle down and are now sitting back-to-back, their backs leaning into each other. For Jason, it’s the only position he could do, other than lying on the ground, with the feeling of least minimum pain in his body.

Dick had his eyes on his feet while Jason had his on his hands. “So… how did you…”  _how did you find me?_ Those words seem to be heavy to say out loud for all he knows Tim sent him here to kill him but if that’s the case then couldn’t he have done that sooner? Of all the things he could think of, this is the first thing that ever pop in his mind, he wants to know.

They’ve been sitting in this position for minutes and the awkwardness between them is starting to get unbearable. “I… I disobeyed master’s orders...” He says out of the blue, his voice sounds ashamed and small, not the Dick Grayson he used to remember who’s out loud and proud in anything he said.  

“Why?” instead of feeling happy, he’s worried. He doesn’t have a clue how painful it was for someone to train Dick to become this docile but he does know it is a very painful and horrendous process. He didn’t want him to go through that kind of pain again but at the same time, he wants to congratulate him for standing up against that psycho.

“I… It’s because of you…” Dick blurts out, his cheeks heat up a little bit. He didn’t know what came over him when he said those words. He tucks his head between his knees out of embarrassment, he then apologizes, “I’m sorry.”  

“Don’t be.”

“Why?”

“It’s only natural to express yourself. You should know that.” Jason ruffles his hair for feeling a little silly upon saying those words. But that’s the truth, before he met him, before he met Dick. He was a street rat who doesn’t show any emotions and only prided himself with his cunning thinking and brute force, thinking feeling anything towards others will only drag him down and make him look weak but when Dick came into the picture, it somehow wasn’t the case. Sure, kids and even adults starts a fight against them but seeing Dick flip and leap around them like he’s defying gravity with his witty quips, it made Jason realize, maybe showing some smile now and then isn’t so bad. He then let’s out a chuckle before saying, “After all, you’re the one who taught me that.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, actually you’ve taught me many other things but I don’t think they’re really necessary since—“ he’s surprise when Dick suddenly moves his body, urging Jason to look at him in the eyes. “Please, tell me more… “ he pleads, his face looked excited for a second before reverting back to his submissive self after seeing Jason wincing from the sudden motion. “I’m sorry.” He apologizes again.

With a smile, Jason pats his head and agrees, “Sure, I’ll tell you.” Leaning his head on Dick’s shoulder’s he starts to retell the story of every little adventure they had growing up together.

Dick listens attentively into his story, he laughs and counter argues with him when Jason pins the blame on him for something stupid they’ve done back then. Turns out Dick _really does_ remembers him and only asked Jason to share to confirm what he remember is his memory and not the court’s brainwashing. Either way, the two are having a blast. It is a wonderful time together but Jason knows things will never stay this good, for he knows, the world will never be this kind to him.

* * *

Batman leans on the wall. Fighting against the talons, hand to hand, have greatly diminished his energy, not to mention the injuries he sustained from the fight. He holds on to the cut he received near his shoulder to see how deep it is.

Wheezing, he reaches out for his communicator, “Alfred, I need status update. Are there more talons in the mansion?” he asks. The minute silence only brings worry to his mind as he thinks of the worst case scenario that could happened on the other side, it's only worsen when the only response got is the sound of static crackling into his ear piece. He tries contacting Cassandra and Stephanie as well but to no avail. Clicking his tongue, he turns off the comm and starts searching for one of the hidden computers in the halls. If he can't reach them, then he'll just have to find them, hoping, they're still alive and well.

The sound of heavy boots approaching his direction dominates the hallway which results in Bruce stopping from his search.

“Well, well, well, would you look at that? The great and all powerful Batman lying helplessly in front of the Owlman.” the familiarity of the voice makes him cautious, he takes a fighting stance before asking, “Who are you?”

* * *

Barbara tries her best to keep her breathing as minimum as possible, they've been trapped in the panic room for more than 20 minutes now and it's only a matter of time before the available oxygen is completely cut off. She tries her best to type every bit of code she knows to stop the lockdown but each time she tries, an 'error' message pops out.

She groans and the sweat dripping from her skin starts to feel uncomfortable. Her head is starting to ache not from the lack of oxygen but from the fact that Helena have stopped moving five minutes ago, got her all worried, not to mention, Alfred, who seemed to have weakened significantly in the past ten minutes. Looking back at the two, she thinks of another way to hack the system.

Her eyes dead set on the computer, she starts typing again and realizes something. With a smirk she curses, “You manipulative bastard.”

* * *

They are in a stand still, the man who identifies himself as the Owlman is standing in front of him with his claws baring its sharpness and judging from the name alone, Bruce could easily deduce this is the man who's responsible for the invasion in the manor. Tightening his grip on his fists, he throws a punch at him. Owlman takes a few steps back and laughs before tackling him head on. Bruce groans upon contact as he notices the Owlman aiming for the areas he is badly injured in.

Letting out several smoke bombs, he then hits him with both of his elbows in the head. The metallic mask he's wearing prevents Bruce from hurting him badly. Avoiding his attacks, Batman leaps over Owlman’s shoulders and leaves several nanobombs around the area.

The bombs explode within seconds and it got him worried thinking he might have overdone it. The Owlman isn’t moving, Bruce moves cautiously, a pair of golden eyes stare at him and takes him by surprise. What’s even more surprising is when he sees Lincoln March's face regenerating, beneath the broken mask, being alive. He tries to focus on the fact his friend is alive and not minding the sudden change in his skin and the visible vein in his face. “Come on Bruce, this can't be the best you've got. I was just getting—"

Before he could continue speaking, a sharp object then hits Lincoln in the eye, the Owlman falls on the ground and doesn't get up. Looking for the possible culprit, he sees a small shadow behind the corners, wanting to see who did it.

A series of continuous explosions distracts him. He ducks and covers himself with the cape as the explosion continues to happened, he tries to see who’s responsible for the action but he is already gone.

The flames are everywhere by the time the explosions ended, he plans to reach for Lincoln but the fire quickly spread around the area. All visible exits are closed. Certainly, the compounds the culprit used for this explosion is not the usual ones,  _this has been studied and heavily planned_. Coughing from the lack of oxygen, Bruce takes out a gas mask and thinks of a way to escape.

* * *

Not far from the manor, an army, consisting of not less than 20 soldier, all stand around a child around the age of 10-13 and Talia herself. Taking out the binoculars away from him, the child looks at the city’s view in the night sky with his own eyes, “The city, it’s burning.” He comments.

Talia, who is standing beside him, replied, “It’s been for a very long time Damian.”

“No, mother. I mean the heart* of it.” he clarifies himself and points at the direction towards the Wayne manor.

* * *

“I’m sorry.” Dick says again.

“Why?” Jason looks at him, his relaxed body starts to tense.

“That’s because I…was supposed to give you’re your gift in your birthday but I wasn’t able to give it to you. Even now…”

This catch him off guard, of all the things he regretted. Not being able to see Dick for the last time before his death was far the greatest. Shame and guilt quickly take over his mind as he lowers his head, “Shouldn’t I be the one to apologize? I mean, I didn’t managed to visit you that day and then I died. You were waiting for me yet I didn’t show up. I’m sorry.” His chest is getting heavier and heavier as he said those words. He could imagine it, Dick standing outside, waiting for him in the cold, his body shivering and teeth clattering. Maybe if he didn’t took the plane to Ethiopia so suddenly then… perhaps… things would have ended so differently for them…

“No, you shouldn’t!” he protests, his hands cup against Jason’s as he stares at him directly in the eye. Crap… why are there tears starting to collect at the side of his eyes? “Re-remember the time when he first kissed?” his hands are now starting to shake, should he even be telling this to Jason? On the upside of remember his past life, he too could remember all the horrible things the court and his master had done to him.

“Yeah, it was also the day I confessed to but you mistook if for something else. You kissed me on the cheek and I flustered.” He forced a smile past his lips and holds on to the Dick’s hands for reassurance.

“No, not that. The time where we _actually_ kissed.” He clarifies himself but Jason merely gives him a lofted brow. “You know, the time where we first kissed on the lips.”

“Oh… that…” now remembers, he was around 14 or 15 that time and was already kicking bad guy’s ass as Robin, the boy wonder. It happened around after patrol and Dick was waiting for him at their usual spot behind his work place. It took Jason a complete minute to process what happened when Dick pressed his lips against his. After the realization sinking in, he started to stutter and asked him why?

If he remembers correctly, Dick responded with a, _“That’s because I thought you died!”_

Then he remembers his hormonal self, plunge his lips back to his and even went as far as 2nd base with Dick, it would have gone further if the older man didn’t stopped his advances.

His cheeks heat up a little bit from the recollection but other than that, he’s starting to feel fine.

“I know since you were adopted by Bruce Wayne, I can’t give you anything you needed and so figured I would have given myself to you…” the change in his tone in his voice could have been easily mistaken as one of his embarrassed tone in the past and Jason could have easily laughed it off and comfort him but then the horrible realization sinks in. “don’t tell me he…” no, he refuses to believe this… he already knows about this but why does it feel more painful when Dick says it?

Somehow breathing starts to feel difficult. Jason’s in the borderline of being angry and sorry. Betraying all the pain in his body, he forces himself to look at him, to see if this is _really_ happening. Jason looks at him in the eyes, tears are now flowing down his face, he wipes them off with thumb and decides to hug him instead.

“I’m sorry Jason…” he sobs. “He was my first and master said I was his. I didn’t want to remember that day but I’m truly sorry…

“It’s not your fault Dick. Just let it all out.” Dick hears Jason comforting him. Remembering the past, remember _that_ day brings pain to his chest. It was the start where his last piece of consciousness and humanity were hanging by a thread. He didn’t want to do it but he had no choice, his master have clearly pointed out how much he helped him escape from the court and repaying him with ungratefulness was not an option. He hated it, hated how he could easily throw himself and use his body like that. After that event, reality snapped and the days of living like blur started.

But right now, being in the arms of Jason, holding him so close and so careful brings him so much comfort and joy. Hearing Jason whisper behind his ear feels good and feeling him kiss his forehead feels even better. His crying have now reduced to small sobs, Dick looks up at Jason.

The two share an intimate look before,

“Oh what a lovely sight to be seen!” a familiar voice catch their intention all too quickly.

“Ma-master?!”

Jason growls when he sees that bastard Tim Drake appearing in his place. That punk ass kid had that smug look on his face thinking he’s already won. Feeling Dick shaking underneath him, he slowly pushes him back behind his body.

“Do you seriously think you can beat me with your current situation?” he asks with an amused look on his face and dammit! Jason wants to punch all his pearly whites out.

“Do you really think ‘this’” he points to his battered body. “Could stop me from punching you?” he stomps his feet forward, hiding the pain it cause.

“Yes, in fact from the very beginning, you have no chance of winning against me.” Tim starts walking around them, his eyes glued on the two. It almost feels like a predator cornering it prey. Jason hides his shivers as he covers Dick away from the psycho’s prying eyes. “I should have given you more credit Jason Todd. I never realize you managed to break me this far.”

“Don’t patronize me you pretender. I know you’re only stalling.”

“See? So wise yet so stupid at the same time.” He mocks, Jason had it with his attitude as he tries to attack him only to be stopped by Dick. Dick, who by all odds, stands in front of him looking at his master’s eyes with much defiance.

“Master please don’t.”

It is only a microexpression but Jason notices it, Tim’s face is slightly contorting from irritation yet his eyes fully screams intimidation, “Step aside my talon.” He demands.

“No, I won’t!”

“Don’t make me say it twice or else…”

“Or else what? You’re going to hurt him? Don’t you think you’ve done enough already?” Jason leers at him, he may not be able to physically beat him but if he can take all Tim’s attention at him, then… Dick could easily—

Then a sharp stabbing sensation could be felt around his chest. _No fucking way!_ His eyes are in awe, he looks down and sees Tim in front of him, his hand has a metallic claw deeply clawed its way inside his chest. _How the_ _fuck?..._ he stares around as Tim continues to push further, his mouth coughing blood.

His vision are now starting to turn hazy, the last things he sees is Dick lying on the ground, with a pool of his own blood around his body and the last thing he hears is the brat muttering, “I told you already Jason Todd, it’s your lost.”

He tries retorting but his lips feels dry and his body going limp.

Tim looks at the fallen vigilante with much satisfaction. Shaking his hands off from the excessive blood, he walks towards his Talon, who’s barely conscious. He picks him you and looks at his dying face, “Don’t worry my talon.” He says, fondly caressing his face, “the difference between you and him, is that you dying brings you closer to me. I should be grateful to you for death only brings us closer. You’re fine forever Dick and I have no intention of letting you go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the end! yeah its the end D:
> 
> this wasn't what i hoped it would be but i still like it (: and thank you for those who sticked at the very end and im really excited to know what you guys think about this one :D

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me [here](http://theflowergravel.tumblr.com/) if you guys want to talk to me :)


End file.
